


Understanding the Beginning/Year 5

by nerdgirl4life (orphan_account)



Series: When Heroes Go To Hogwarts [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: But I'm going to be gently adding in Drarry over the fic., Demigods vs Wizards (and Witches), Drarry, F/M, I became a Drarry shipper in the time I've been away., I love Ginny but I think I like Drarry more than cannon., I will not Weasley bash., I'm bad at tagging., M/M, Moldy-shorts, PigPimples, Voldymort, Who'd want to eat Thanatos?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-04
Updated: 2015-11-09
Packaged: 2018-02-28 04:32:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 33,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2718887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/nerdgirl4life
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Part Two in the When Heroes Go To Hogwarts series.</p><p>Our heroes have agreed to assist the magical world and try to help stop one of the most evil wizards of all time. As the demigods prepare to leave for England Harry Potter is preparing to go home for the summer. He wants nothing more than to leave 4 Privet Drive and never return, but he also knows that he's protected there because of his mother. Its even more important that he go back there now that Voldemort had risen. </p><p>Will the Order accept these random teenagers from America? Will anyone trust that these fifteen year olds can do anything to protect Harry? How will the Weasley's react when Dumbledore asks them to stay with Sirius at Grimmuald Place for the summer and watch over the 'exchange students' to see for themselves if they could truly be trusted? </p><p>Let's find out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Off To England/Flashbacks

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go! Part Two of the Heroes Go To Hogwarts Series has officially begun! Once a week I will be posting a new chapter. If I cannot post once a week, I will post once every other week. Please be patient with me! I have started a new job and will be working seven days a week. But do not fear! I will NOT abandon this work. I am WAY too emotionally invested! I hope you enjoy this first chapter. Part Two will NOT follow the EXACT same outline(?) as Part One. It will come out a little differently but I think it will be a good change! 
> 
> Without further ado, I give you Chapter One of Part Two

Albus Dumbledore considered himself to be fairly wise considering all that he’d discovered about the truth behind Tom Riddle’s first demise and the power behind his continued existence. But when he had discovered the origins of all magic and the goddess who’d given it to the mortals all those millennia ago, he had been truly and completely stumped. When he’d discovered Chiron and the demigod camp in America he began to believe that there might be more to learn about the Greek gods and their children. When Hecate herself appeared before him he hadn’t had any idea of what to say or do. Which worked out well for him since she’d wanted to do all the talking. 

“Hello, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, I am Hecate, Goddess of Magic and the Mist. You have discovered your true lineage. I had hoped that one of the most well known names in the Wizarding World would discover this scroll before it became to late to do anything. But luckily you are a curious little thing. Perhaps you will cultivate a friendship with the old Centaur and one day, when you fear that evil shall prevail, maybe you can call on him for help.”

When she’d gone and he’d been left alone again, Dumbledore had contacted Chiron and asked him to have pity on him and explain what the goddess could have meant. It had been a very long and multi-part conversation. Chiron hadn’t explained but Dumbledore assumed there was trouble brewing in the camp. He had been very patient and understanding with Chiron and once he’d had all the information he could handle, he’d dove into discovering the cryptic clues Hecate had given him. 

Months and even years passed before he fully understood the ramifications of his ancestors denying the magic goddess her praise and meal sacrifices. She had cursed them to live under fear from a dark wizard who would try to wipe out the mortal population of the world. Dumbledore would bet all the Galleons in his vault at Gringotts that Lord Voldemort was the dark wizard the scroll spoke of. And if Voldemort was indeed the dark wizard she had cursed, Harry Potter would definitely be the only one who could defeat him.   
________________________________________________________________

PERCY

FLASHBACK

Despite the really cool new powers and being able to learn a new sport, the months leading up to the quest were stressful and felt like they went by very quickly. It was almost like we’d had no time to really get used to the idea of leaving. One day we were first learning how to use magic and the next it was the day before our journey began. 

“Percy! We have to leave now if we’re going to make it to the city before traffic gets bad!” I had been putting off getting out of my bed to leave for over an hour now. “I’m coming!” As I took a long look around my home away from home, I tried to commit the details to memory. I’d come here for the first time when I was twelve, and it had barely changed. The only different things were the size of the clothes that littered the floor when I didn’t feel like being clean. Tyson never left anything here so for the most part it was only my things that had accumulated. It would be three years before I saw it again. Hopefully I wouldn’t get any new siblings in that time. Of course, Poseidon hadn’t been clear, but I don’t think I’m getting any new brothers or sisters any time soon. 

As I took my last look around the room I heard my door open and Grover, my closest and oldest friend, walked in. “Hey, Perce.” I gave him a sad smile, “Hey, G-Man.” I didn’t really know what else I could say that would make leaving better, but he gave me the same sad smile and pulled me into a bear hug. It was all the goodbye I needed and if I had to guess, it was all the goodbye Grover needed too.   
________________________________________________________________________

When Dumbledore had approached the Weasley Family about joining the Order of the Phoenix they had readily agreed. They were ready to join in the fight against Voldemort and make a difference in the brewing war. When he asked them if they wouldn’t mind moving their family into London for the summer to make sure that Sirius had someone with him at all times they didn’t hesitate. Sirius had been wrongly convicted of murder and Harry needed his godfather; he needed to remain indoors for his protection. Their family could always use another member. But when Dumbledore told the Weasley Family about the exchange student program he’d set up with the Salem Institute of Magic in America, they strongly cautioned the older Wizard against it.   
“Can you really justify bringing in ten foreign students into the middle of a pre-war zone? Dumbledore, Molly and I have always trusted your judgment, but this might not be such a good idea.”  
“My dear Arthur, there is no need for alarm. These ten students have been apprised of the situation. They are posing as exchange students. They are here for two reasons. The first being Harry Potter’s safety. Secondly they are here to try and unite the houses of Hogwarts so that when they are asked to fight against the armies of Lord Voldemort, there will be students who not only wish to stand up against the injustice they have witnessed, but also students who, despite having been raised to hate Muggleborns, will stand up against their parents and parents friends to see a better age come out of all this darkness.”  
“Are these students really up to the job? They’re leaving behind their families! They’ll be all alone! We can’t ask them to do this Dumbledore!”  
“Molly, I understand your reservations. And though I cannot reveal to you the true nature of their identities, I can tell you that the ten students volunteered to come and aid us in our darkest hour. They have, together, seen two wars tear their families apart and have succeeded in defeating evil that you and I cannot imagine. If they say that they can protect Harry and unite our school, I believe them. I cannot reveal to you their secret. But I have arranged for them to come here during the summer so they can have friends before they go to Hogwarts. This way, you can see for yourself just how much they can help us. And do not be too fearful for them leaving behind their families. One of the students mothers was very adamant that she be allowed to get a home near the school so that she would be readily available if the students, whom she sees as her own children, would have need of her. I have secured her and her husband with a three-bedroom home in Hogsmeade. They will be there if any of the students wish to visit.”

Molly had not been totally convinced. She was a mother after all and her mothering instincts were always searching out injustice and trying to make sure that children were well taken care of. That is what had drawn her so fiercely to Harry. She knew that he was not properly fed or cared for with his Aunt and Uncle. She knew that he needed someone to take care of him even when he didn’t see it himself. He needed her mothering influence in his life. Above all, she knew he needed family and hoped that he knew that the entire Weasley Family had seen him as one of their own since he’d come to stay with them the day Fred, George and Ronald went to ‘rescue’ him from his aunt and uncle’s house.   
________________________________________________________________

ANNABETH

Traveling in the middle of summer vacation is never the ideal time to travel. There were so many people in the airport that it was difficult to stay with the group. When we all finally made it through security and got to our gate, it felt like we’d been standing in line for several hours. Because Sally had the money, she and Paul were flying First Class. The rest of us were using Hogwarts money so we all got to ride Coach. It wasn’t the best flight I’ve ever been on, but it certainly could have been worse. We all got to sit together and most of us slept during our seven-hour flight. Percy was one of the few of us who did not sleep. (Being in Zeus’ Domain was never safe for a Son of Poseidon, but seeing as how Jason was also on the flight we all convinced Percy that Zeus would never blast the plane out of the sky.) 

When we finally landed at Heathrow Airport in London all of us who had remained awake were ready to be off of the plane. Seven hours is far too long for a demigod with ADHD to remain still. (Thank the gods I’d had something to keep me busy.) Despite the bittersweet goodbye (Sally and Paul were catching a plane that would take them to Kingussie Scotland, UK. (From there Dumbledore or someone in what Chiron called the ‘Order of the Phoenix’ would meet them and apparate them to Hogsmeade and show them to their new home.), we were all becoming excited. I was extremely excited about learning new magic and observing the customs of the witches and wizards.

None of us had met Dumbledore or any of the witches and wizards we’d be staying with so none of us really knew whom to look for. All Chiron had said was that either someone with a very long white beard or a couple with very bright red hair would be there to meet us once we got through security.

________________________________________________________

HERMIONE

Being the only Muggleborn teenager staying at Order HQ, it was decided that I would travel with Mr. Weasley to pick up the American Exchange Students at the airport. But upon further reflection, knowing that Heathrow was a little too far to be walking (and there was no way we could afford the cab fare) a witch or wizard that was able to drive, who would not be opposed to Mr. Weasley charming their car with an undetectable extension charm, would accompany me to pick up the exchange students. Unfortunately the only wizard who fit the description (and I sincerely believe that Dumbledore had something to do with it) was Professor Snape. The other candidates were busy at the Ministry of Magic as all of them worked there. Professor Snape was a teacher and had holiday when the students did. Professor Snape did not own his own vehicle even though he lived in a Muggle village. After procuring a rental car and making Mr. Weasley promise to take the charms off the car before Professor Snape returned it, we set off to the airport to wait for the exchange students. 

“Professor, do you mind if I make a personal query?” I waited a moment and unless I was seeing things I’m fairly certain that he rolled his eyes.   
“Granger, if I wanted to strike up a meaningful conversation, do you not think I would have already done so?” I waited a moment more and asked my question.   
“Sir, I only wanted to ask, where did you learn to drive?” He glared at me but I suppose he decided he could punish me once we got back to Hogwarts for asking such things.   
“If you must know, I learned from my father.” I did not see the point of questioning him any further. But the fact that he answered my question gave me hope that I wouldn’t regret trying to be at least cordial. 

Upon arrival at the airport Snape informed me that I would be going inside alone and he would wait in the car by the door. Since I knew where I was going and what I was doing I didn’t really need him there, but I thought he might go inside and meet the exchange students himself. I nodded my assent and made my way inside with a sign Ginny and I had made to welcome the ten students we would be living with for the next few months. I was very excited to talk to them and learn about Salem Institute of Magic and how it differed from Hogwarts. I didn’t have to wait very long at the arrivals area of the airport. Before I knew it I was met with a group of ten students. One of them, I assumed the oldest or the unofficial leader of the group, stepped forward and offered me his hand. As we shook he introduced himself.  
“Hi, I’m Percy Jackson. We were expecting an adult, but between you and me, I’m glad it was someone our age.” He gave me a smile and I have to admit, I was shocked by his forwardness.   
“I’m Hermione Granger. Mr. Weasley wanted to come but he’s just not as familiar with Muggle transportation and we wanted to get you to the house in one piece. Professor Snape is here, but he elected to wait in the car so that we would have a quick getaway from the airport.” They all seemed happy about that. “Just so you’re not completely surprised by the car, I should tell you that Mr. Weasley charmed it so that you’d all fit. And the trunk was enlarged as well to fit all of your luggage.” Percy seemed to get very excited, “You mean he magic’d the car! Awesome!” One of the girls, a blond with hair as curly as mine, hit him and then addressed me as he complained,   
“Sorry about Percy, he gets way too excited about stuff like that. I’m Annabeth Chase, by the way.” She gave me a smile and I returned it.   
“Its perfectly all right. Technically we aren’t allowed to put charms on Muggle artifacts. We’ve decided to bend the rules as to allow for saving as much money as possible to get everyone where they need to get in as little time as possible. Well, that’s what Professor Dumbledore said to convince Mrs. Weasley that it wouldn’t get her husband in trouble.” I had to laugh a little because remembering that conversation would always bring a smile to my face. I suggested that we head for the car before Professor Snape tried to leave us there and we all made for the front doors. If I hadn’t thought so before, I left that airport thinking that this would be the strangest summer of my life.


	2. Heroes, Meet the Wizards

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And now, the demigods meet the Order of the Phoenix and the Family Weasley.

JASON

If anyone had told me that a whole apartment could come out of a building and no one would notice anything, I’d have told you to go find a Child of Apollo and get your concussion healed. The tall, dark and greasy Professor Snape handed us a piece of paper with an address written on it. He’d told us to memorize what it said.  
The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmuald Place, London  
Once we’d had a chance to look at the paper Snape called out,  
“Has everyone memorized the location?” After we’d all said yes he told us to concentrate on the words we’d just memorized. He then lit his wand and set the piece of paper on fire. None of us had time to think about that because at that moment, and it was instantaneous, the houses of Grimmuald Place started to move. I’d noticed that there was in fact no Number 12 on the street we had been standing on. But in between numbers 11 and 13, a door had appeared. Then, without warning, the houses shifted to reveal a whole other house!  
“Come along, quickly now. We don’t need anyone knowing that we’re here.” We all made our way into the house as quickly as we could. Once the door behind us closed Snape told us to be as quiet as possible and to go through the door at the end of the hall.  
“Everyone except you, Miss Granger. You will no doubt be introduced to them at dinner, but the Order has to meet them all first.” Hermione looked like she wanted to argue, but said nothing as she made her way upstairs.  
“Now, as for the rest of you, speak only when spoken to and Dumbledore has asked me to tell you not to reveal anything that would put your lives in danger. I have no idea what that means, but he seemed to think that you lot would know what I meant.” None of us said anything and he took that as our answer.  
“You can leave your things here at the foot of the stairs. You won’t be inside long enough to need them and afterwards Mrs. Weasley will lead you upstairs to where you’ll be staying.” He seemed very unhappy that he was being made to talk to us at all. I wondered if he’d be a very good teacher if he didn’t care for children. But I didn’t really have time to think about it because before I knew it, it was my turn to enter the room at the end of the hall. 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

“Alright everyone! Its time to put the meeting on hold for a brief moment. Coming through that door in about three minutes will be the new exchange students from America. I know that not all of you have seen why I’d ask ten students to come here during this time of fear and especially right after we’ve seen Lord Voldemort rise to power once more. These children are not just children. They are powerful and will be allies to us and to Harry Potter. Though we may see them as just a few more children, they have seen terrible things in their lifetimes and some of them are much older than fifteen. They volunteered to come and assist Harry and Hogwarts while they can. Those of them who were not Hogwarts age were willing to relive their teen years in order to maintain a close proximity to Harry while he is still in school. I have no doubt that they will protect him. Do not make mention of anything that could possibly make it back to Harry’s ears unless you want Harry knowing it. I have a feeling that these students will become close to Harry and his friends during their stay here and while attending Hogwarts.” When Dumbledore finished his speech, everyone heard the shuffling of feet and knew that the exchange students were finally here. The members of the Order had not been happy when Dumbledore had first made his intentions known to them concerning these students. Mrs. Weasley had been the most outspoken on that topic. But at that moment every member of the Order hoped that Dumbledore had been right in asking these students to help. 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

PIPER

As we made our way through the door I started to get nervous. Why couldn’t Hermione join us in the room? Who were we meeting? What’s with all the secrets? We’re teenagers to their eyes, don’t they know that teenagers blab? Looking around the room I could see at least 20 or so people sitting or standing around the table. One man, who looked as though he’d much rather be somewhere else, was gaping at all of us. I guess he hadn’t really thought Dumbledore would bring in ten students. The room was long enough to fit all of us among the people already seated at the table and wide enough to have a full kitchen off to the side. Even though it had been rather dark in the hallway, there were lights and candles that made it easy to see. Most of the people looked like they were polite, but there were a few who looked downright mean or even scary. One man sitting at the table looked like he’d come out worse against the Nemean Lion. And the man across from him had a chunk of his nose missing. All in all they were a mismatched bunch. After all of us managed to squeeze into seats at the table an old man with a long silver beard stood and everyone in the room gave him their attention.  
“Welcome, Students, to the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. I am sorry that there is so little room at this table. We have assembled every member of the Order for this meeting. I thought it right that you should meet us all. I am Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, and the friend that Chiron made mention of when he asked you for help on my behalf. I think I shall go around and name the members of the Order who you will have the most contact with. This will be easier than trying to introduce all of the members assembled here. You have already met Professor Snape, and he will be a teacher of yours while you are at Hogwarts.” Snape nodded at us and we nodded back.

“The young woman to his right is Nymphydora Tonks.”  
“Dumbledore! I have asked everyone call me Tonks!” Most of the people at the table chuckled at that.  
“Yes, my dear, I know. However, I feel it is polite to introduce everyone my a proper name.” Tonks sighed and folded her arms across her chest. But then she must have remembered her manners because she gave us a brief ‘hello’ before turning back to staring at the table.  
“Next to her is Remus Lupin. He was a former teacher at Hogwarts and I’ll leave him to tell you the reasons behind that.” Remus smiled and nodded thanks to Dumbledore. Apparently it was a big deal. Several of the people glared at Professor Snape before returning their attention to Dumbledore.  
“Across from him is Alastor Moody, but most of us call him Mad Eye. He and Tonks work together at the Ministry of Magic.” He gave us a nod and we all returned it. But I couldn’t help staring at his eye. One of them was brown and very normal looking. But the other was bright blue and attached to his head by a thick leather strap. The eye didn’t move right. It almost looked as if it had a mind of its own.  
“On my right, all of the folks with red hair, are the Weasleys. First is Mr. Arthur Weasley, his wife Molly, their eldest son Bill, and second eldest Charlie. They have four other children who you will be meeting after you leave here. They attend Hogwarts as well.” All of them waved at us and we all waved back. Mr. Weasley looked like he was going to jump out of his seat. I assumed he was excited about something, but not knowing him I really didn’t have a clue.  
“On my left here, is Sirius Black. He is the owner of this house and graciously agreed to let you stay here until the school year begins in September.”  
“Well, it wasn’t doing any good just sitting here so I figure, the more people use it the more like home it will feel.” He smiled at us and looked genuinely pleased to see people using the house. 

“If I may, Dumbledore,” Moody wanted the floor.  
“Please, go ahead, Alastor.”  
“Thank you.” He turned and looked at the ten of us, “How do you think a group of exchange students be a match against the forces of Voldemort? I was wiling to follow your judgment, but look at these kids! Some of them look like they’d faint before the first sign of danger!” I wanted to stand up and demand that they respect us until they’d gotten to know us, but I would have used Charmspeak and that could get us into trouble. I turned to Jason to get him to say something, but I was beat by Annabeth standing and telling Moody off herself.  
“I’ll have you know, sir, that we have faced dangers that none of you could imagine. I understand that those words coming out of the mouth of someone who looks fifteen is probably a joke to all of you, but I will not stand here and let anyone talk down about us when none of you even know us. I don’t know how much Dumbledore has shared with you about who we are, but I’ll thank you to get to know even one of us before you cast your judgment. We did not have to agree to come here and fight against your villains. We aren’t here for the Order of the Phoenix. We are here for two reasons alone. We are here to protect Harry Potter, and we are here to be a uniting force at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I thank you to remember that.”  
“Thank you, Miss Chase, I apologize for my friend. He is not one to beat around the bush, as you Americans say.” Dumbledore regained the attention of the room with ease. These people must respect him if nothing but a sentence gave him back control of a room.  
“I know that ten students do not seem like a great asset to have when none of us even know them. But, I have the upmost faith in their abilities and their desire to help Harry. Let them surprise you. And, as Miss Chase so boldly stated, get to know them before you pass judgment.” The adults seemed to calm after that. 

“Well, then lets ask them to introduce themselves. That is always the first step in getting to know someone.” I smiled at the older witch. Dumbledore hadn’t introduced her but she seemed very much like a mother. The next person to speak also gave off a very motherly vibe.  
“Indeed. Lets all keep our heads and get to know them!” 

“Thank you, Andromeda and Molly. I believe this is in order. If the ten of you wouldn’t mind, standing and stating your name?” I thought Annabeth would be the first to stand, but Percy put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. He stood and addressed the Order.  
“My name is Percy Jackson. I would like to say something before the rest of my friends introduce themselves, if that would be ok.” Dumbledore nodded at him to continue. “I am sorry if Annabeth offended anyone. But I can’t fault her for what she said. Dumbledore came to us and asked our friend Chiron if he knew of anyone who could help protect Harry from the Voldyguy.” Annabeth stood to whisper in his ear and Percy flushed, “Sorry, Voldemort. Dumbledore was right to ask Chiron for our help and we volunteered to come. Of the ten of us here, only two of us are actually fifteen.” I gasped and I wasn’t the only one of our group to do so. We had thought we were going to keep a lot of who we really were under wraps. “We agreed to have magic cast on us that put us in our fifteen year old bodies so that we could be at school with Harry. I won’t tell you how old we really are or why I won’t tell you, but I just want all of you to understand that we are here to help you. You may not see us as the warriors we are, but that doesn’t mean that our experiences are worth any less. None of what I’m about to say will make much sense to you, that just means you don’t know everything.” With that Percy gave a smile and I saw Sirius Black try to conceal his laughter. “My friends and I have participated in two full out wars. The first was seven years ago when I was actually fifteen and the second was just two years ago. We have lost friends and we have defeated mighty enemies. We are not as weak as we appear. I’m not usually one for speeches but I just felt that these things needed to be said. I guess with that, I leave my friends to introduce themselves.” He turned to Annabeth who was trying not to smile. But she stood and addressed the room. 

“My name is Annabeth Chase, I also offer my apologies if I was too forward.” Next to her was Nico.  
“My name is Nico di Angelo.” He looked like he wanted to say more but sat and gestured for Will to go next.  
“Hi, I’m Will Solace.” It was so like Will to brighten the room. Each person looked at him with at least a ghost of a smile.  
“I’m Frank Zhang, and before you ask, yes, I am Chinese, but I’ve lived in America for the last four years.” Several people chuckled at his announcement and he smiled as he returned to his seat.  
“My name is Hazel Levesque.”  
“Hey, everyone! I’m Leo Valdez and this is my first time out of the USA.” Even I laughed at Leo. But I was glad for the break from all the tension. Leo is always so good at that.  
“My name is Calypso Fredrick.” She gave her shy smile and sat back down as quickly as she could.  
“I’m Jason Grace.” Crap, my turn. I decided to put a little Charmspeek into my words.  
“My name is Piper McLean.” I looked at Sirius, “Thank you for allowing my friends and I to stay in your home. We wouldn’t have had the money to stay anywhere else while we waited for the school term to begin.” Then I looked at each person individually, “Thank you for what trust you have in us and thank you in advance for the trust I hope you’ll have in us.” As I sat, I noticed that everyone seemed more on the cheerful side.


	3. Heroes vs Weasleys (and Hermione)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, this just kind of spewed from my fingertips. I hope you're happy with an early update! But DONT get too excited. I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to be able to update like this every time. (:

Albus was trying to regain control of his meeting. More often than not, when he began speaking, he gained the attention of the entire room. These people trusted his judgment. These people trusted that he was as wise as they had come to believe. After sending the demigods with Molly things once again began to get out of control. No one wanted to be able to truly believe that these children could do what they were claiming to do. Knowing even what little he did Remus decided to stand and make his opinions known.

“I know that I’m not as vocal as most of you when it comes to these meetings. I prefer to sit back and observe and form opinions based on all that I can observe from all of you. In this case, however, I feel the need to speak. These are not children. They have verified this themselves. We must treat them as such because they have a mission to fulfill, but we all have this knowledge in our minds. We do not know these people, nor they us. We do, however know and trust Dumbledore. I for one will trust the people he saw fit to ask for help. We all know that harry needs as much protection as anyone.”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

LEO

Just so you’re all aware, there are like, one million stairs in Sirius’ house. And lucky us, we all have rooms on the top floor just under the entrance into the attic. I’m pretty sure that there is some kind of animal up there. We’d had to be quiet the whole way and I was still unsure of just what we were trying to keep from waking up. I mean, old houses had reputations, but could there really be something so horrible we’d never want it to wake up?

“Ok, there are four rooms up here. Fred and George, my twin sons in their sixth year at Hogwarts, share one room and three more boys can bunk with them. My youngest son, Ronald is bunking with Harry who won’t be here for about three more weeks and three more can fit in with them. Hermione and Ginny share a room and two more can bunk in with them and then that leaves the last room.” Seeing as how there were ten of us that should have worked, but since we had one same gender couple amongst us, I wasn’t sure if we should say so, or if we should just let Nico and Will have the satisfaction of being able to room together because they were both male.

“Mrs. Weasley, I think its only fair to let you know, Will and I are a couple. If its necessary to split us up, I’m more than happy to bunk with my sister, Hazel and another girl.” Well, that proverbial cat was out of its bag.

“Oh, I see.” She hesitated but didn’t make any comment or facial expression that would give away her view of ‘that sort of behavior’ to anyone. “Well, you may get sorted into different houses while you’re at Hogwarts, and I know how inseparable Arthur and I were at that age.” She smiled at them and seemed to forget that they were two boys. “I don’t see the harm in letting you share a room.” But her face got serious as soon as she’d finished. “But, I will not tolerate any inappropriate behavior. That goes for any couple among the lot of you. You are guests here and will not be allowed to run rampant with your hormones and feelings. Heaven forbid I get upset about displays of affection, but I will be keeping an eye on any couple who plays too closely with the line of appropriate displays.” She took a look at all of us and expected us to follow her rules. Which, in all reality, weren’t even that strict. No couples should be inappropriate while we were staying here. I was pretty sure we could all handle that.

“Well, all of us are dating one of the other members of our group. I think that we can respect your request. We had rules where we came from about the couple thing and more often than not we were all able to keep our displays of affection to a minimum. Thank you, Mrs. Weasley. I was not expecting anyone to be so accepting.”

“There are people in the Order who have been shunned from the ‘civilized’ community because of things that happened to them when they were children, things that they could not have controlled. I have always been willing to accept that a person is not to be judged before you get to know them. Being different should not be a crime. From my family, at least, you will receive nothing but acceptance. If my children learned one thing from me, it was that you don’t judge a person by what anyone else thinks about them. You get to know them and then after discovering who they are, that is when you make your decision about who you think they are.” None of us could bring ourselves to speak. Besides the demigods of old, and our parents, we’d never met people who were so accepting that it was like a persona;ity trait. Percy’s mom was one of the only people I had come to know in my short life that would readily accept anything about anyone just because she loved people so easily. She and Mrs. Weasley would have gotten along fabulously.

“Well, I’m sure you are all ready to get some sleep, but try to stay up until after dinner. I hear traveling to different time zones is made easier if you stay awake until it’s actually time to sleep.” With that she left us and reminded us to keep quiet in the hall. 

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

RON

I heard one of the new students say “Well, how are we supposed to know which room is which?” Hermione and I shared a glance with Fred, George, and Ginny before we opened the door to the room Harry and I would be sharing. Apparently we’d be getting three new bunkmates. 

“Sorry, to have eavesdropped. But we can tell you which rooms are which.” The ten of them just stared at us for a moment. 

“That’d be great! Thanks! We’d like to get our things put away before dinner.” Hermione had briefly spoken to two of the people they would be living with and based on the fact that the girl who spoke had blonde hair she was Annabeth.

“The room we all just came out of is Ron and Harry’s room. Three of the boys from your group can put your bags in there. The room directly behind you is the room Ginny and I share. Two of the girls can put their bags in there. The room down the hall to the left is Fred and George’s room and the one across from that is the empty room. If you’d rather fill that one up, that’s fine too. But boys with boys and girls with girls is how we’re set up.” Hermione, always the one to take charge; I smiled at her a bit but hid it quickly as I could. Fred and George don’t need anything else to tease me about. The ten of them quickly discussed the living arrangements and then separated. Three boys, I didn’t know their names, passed by me into my room. Once they’d all come back to the place Hermione and the rest of us were standing Fred suggested we go down one floor and get acquainted. 

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

GINNY

Once we’d gotten into the small living room and all found a seat one of the new kids started to introduce the lot of them.

“Well, its always weird meeting new people. Might as well start with names and something we like to do. Seems like a good way to start, any objections?” The girl who’d spoken had tan skin and was very pretty. She had brown hair and strangely colored eyes. But the way the blonde bloke was sitting next to her, she was spoken for. When none of us suggested something else, she looked pointedly at another of the new kids to start. 

“Why do I always have to go first?” He crossed his arms in a very dramatic way and I assumed he was just putting it on to have a go at his friends or at us. I wasn’t totally sure.

“You’re the Αρχηγός, of course you have to go first!” The smallest of the group was the one who’d spoken. But the word he’d used was rather bizarre. 

“Did you just use Ancient Greek?” Hermione looked stunned. I was stunned that she’d even caught the fact that he’d spoken another language.

“How did you know it was Ancient Greek? No one generally catches that.” The blonde, Annabeth, spoke again.

“I studied the Ancient Greek and Roman empires in Primary School before I got my Hogwarts letter. I don’t know anything other than what he said was in Ancient Greek. Did you actually understand what he said?” They all shared a glance and for just a second and it seemed as if they’d had a whole conversation in less than a minute.

“We can all understand Ancient Greek and Latin. More of us are familiar with Greek than Latin, but we can all understand both.” Hermione was already trying to figure out who these people were. Of the two of my brother’s best friends, I knew that she would be the only one who could figure out if these new students were who they said they were or if they were lying. But I also knew that these people could just be here to learn magic from a different set of teachers. It would be a mystery to solve that is for sure. After a moment the girl with the strange eyes spoke up again.

“Well, I guess we’d better get on with those introductions.” The boy she’d been trying to get to start nodded and began his introduction.

“Well, I’m Percy Jackson. I’m the best of my friends at any sport involving water, I have a freaky way with horses, I’m a Leo and the blonde to my right is my girlfriend.” He’d seemed like he was trying not to crack up, but then he’d mentioned that he had a girlfriend and he got very serious. She’d blushed violently but quickly recovered herself. I did notice that she was fiddling with something around her neck. It looked like a leather necklace but there were a lot of things on it so I didn’t really get a good look. But it was her turn to speak now so she was on her feet as Percy sat down.

“Well, my name is Annabeth Chase. I’m the best bet you have in a fight, simply because I’m not foolhardy. I have trouble reading because of my ADHD, but give me a little time and I can tell you anything that book contained. As Percy stated, we are a couple. But sometimes I wonder why I stay with the Seaweed Brain when he decides to embarrass me so frequently in public.” They shared a glance and he stuck his tongue out at her in response. She just chuckled a little and hit him playfully on the shoulder. If I weren’t so confused by the whole Ancient Greek thing, I would have thought it was cute and been a tad bit jealous. 

“Well, I’m Leo “Hot Stuff” Valdez. I’m not a Leo, I’m more a Pices, I think. I am the only one, besides maybe Annabeth, who can understand anything having to do with machinery, and even then, I blow her away by about a mile.” Annabeth had raised her eyebrow at him from across the room, but she had a smile on her face as well. It seemed like this was an old argument between the two that turned into a playful tease. “And since we’re outing the couples of the group, I’m currently seeing the beautiful brunette to my right!” At this the girl reddened and smiled shyly at the rest of us. 

“I’m Calypso Frederick. I haven’t had many friends as I lived isolated from anyone my age for a long time. I’m quite skilled at needlework and when necessary my temper is not matched by anyone save probably Nico.” She sat and smiled again at us and it seemed like she was trying to not be so, shy.

“Well, I’m Nico di Angelo. I am Italian by birth but American by choice. I’m not really that social unless I’ve been through hell and back with you.” At that several of the new kids smiles dropped and several of them froze. All in all it was rather strange. “I’m not a fan of wearing colors for reasons. I’m also in a relationship, but with Will.” For a moment I didn’t react, but then it hit me what he was implying. But having been raised by the fabulous parents I was, it didn’t phase me as much at is would have some people. I had only known one other person who had been involved with someone of their own gender and even though most people had been rather cruel towards them, I had always tried to make a point to be kind to them when I had class with them. My brothers didn’t seem to be phased outwardly, either, but I knew that they were trying to figure out which room the homosexual couple had chosen. I wish I had more faith in my brothers, but out of all of them George and Fred were probably the two, of the brothers closest to my age, who would not even bat an eyelash. His boyfriend stood next.

“Well, I’ve been outed to a bunch of strangers, how will I ever cope.” He sent us all a brilliant smile, and it was very successful at easing the tension that seemed to have filled the room. “I’m Will Solace and I am very much against senseless violence. Threaten anyone I care about, and I’ll have you on the floor before you’re able to consider how best to attack the lanky blonde who looks like he wouldn’t hurt a fly. But I tend to be better at first aid than anyone I know. My parents were both doctors so I guess its kind of in my blood.” He shrugged at that and returned to his seat. 

“Hey, I’m Jason, and I’m one of the ten of us who is better at Latin than Greek.”

“Hi, Jason.” Fred and George were making a joke, but I only knew that because all the Muggle born were laughing. Still trying to abate his laughter, Jason continued.

“That was a fantastic joke. But yea, I’m not always good at understanding when I’m in the wrong when it comes to relationships, but I like to think I make up for it by being spontaneously romantic.” He beamed at the brunette who had spoken first and she gave him a loving smile. “So, Piper and I are together, and that just leaves one more couple.” They were all dating someone in the group, all of them! This was going to be the best bit of Hogwarts gossip all year!

“Well, as was pointed out, Hazel and I are last, and we are also a couple. My name is Frank Zhang and I am Chinese. I was born in Canada though, and I’ve been an American for the last four years. So, I guess you could say that I’m the only tri-national of the group. The rest of them were born and raised in the US, well, except for Nico. I’m not particularly adverse to violence, but a lot of my siblings would rather I take more of a liking to it. They like to wrestle and fight for dominance." And I'm Hazel Levesque, the better half to Frank's pacifist self." She smiled at him and he blushed. "I'm good with directions, especially if we're underground. I am also one of the ten of us more suited to Latin.”

“I guess that just leaves me! I’m Piper McLean, and if you have any Muggle experiences at all, you’ll know my dad. If you don’t, then I’m happy to live in anonymity. I’m with Jason, the sometimes completely oblivious.” Even though the words could have been a taunt they were spoken with such, I guess you’d call it love, which made it seemed that Piper liked that Jason was the way he was. “I’m probably one of the less fierce of the group, but when called for, I can be very protective. Leo is like the little brother I always wanted and He, Jason and I can be annoying when we get into our long, long list of inside jokes. I apologize in advance.” She leaned forward as if to share a secret with the Weasley and Hermione side of the room but she spoke loudly enough to be heard by her friends. “I’m pretty sure we even get under Calypso’s skin, and she’s dating him!” The exchange students all laughed and Fred and George chuckled along with them. 

“Well, exchange students,” Fred started and George finished,

“I guess it’s our turn!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I added Hazel's intro! Its not very long, but I don't think she would say much more than I put in there. (:


	4. Weasleys (and Hermoine) vs Heroes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaand, meet Gred and Forge!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little shorter, but that is simply because I wanted to leave you with a cliffhanger!

HAZEL

“Well, exchange students”  
“I guess it’s our turn.” The twins looked at each other and shared a conspiratorial smile and It reminded me so much of Leo I had to look at him to see what his reaction would be. To save his dignity I’ll just say he was excited. Then the twins stood and began their introduction.  
“My name is Forge, Forge Weasley,”  
“And mine is Gred, Gred Weasley, and we are happy to be the first of the Brits to introduce ourselves.” With a quick glance at their other siblings, I could tell that this was not the first time they had pulled something like this off. Leo and Percy would not be sharing a room with them, thank the gods.  
“Of course we are Gred! Now, what do you say we tell them what it’s like to be twins!”  
“My dear Forge, what an excellent idea!” At that they disappeared into thin air with a loud crack. But then with another crack the reappeared and were standing side by side. If I hadn’t been looking for ways to tell them apart, I never would have noticed, but one of them had a few more freckles on his cheeks than the other. It was such a small difference I wasn’t even sure I was right, but I was pretty positive that they’d switched places.  
“As Gred and I were saying, we are twins.   
“Identical” they both chorused.  
“But, we are much more than that, aren’t we, Gred?”  
“Of course we are, Forgey! We’re the only ones in our family that see the true menaces of society in this dark day.”  
“Couldn’t have said it better myself, Gred! The true menaces in this day and age are not those of Voldy and his Death Eater pals.”  
“Course not, Forge! Its those bloody joke shops that are the real menace!”  
“Quite right, Gred! They are selling sub par jokes and to be quite honest, I’ve longed for a more magical kind of joke shop.”  
“Hear, hear, Forge!” With that they disappeared again! When they reappeared this time, they held something in their hands.  
“Well, I’d like to really introduce myself, I am Fred”  
“And I am George.”  
“We are the co-proprietors of the Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes and we would like to formally,”  
“And cordially invite you to be some of the first Wizard teens to try our products!” At that, their sister stood and whispered something in the twins ears. They both glared at her and she seemed to stand her ground.   
“Well, mum won’t be at Hogwarts so perhaps we can get you to try them there, right Fred?  
“Of course George.” They disappeared once again and when they returned, this time, they were seated.  
“Well, I’m going to first apologize for my brothers. They’re sometimes a couple of gits. I’m Ginny Weasley by the way. I am the youngest of seven and not afraid to get in the middle of anything my family cooks up! Whether it be a prank, a fight or even a war. But I’m also the only girl in my family so I get smothered by my mum and if anyone even thought about trying to date me, they’d end up in St. Mungos because of all six of my brothers.” She sat after smiling a bit at Fred and George and then she nudged the last red head to get on with his introduction.   
“I guess that means I’m the last of the Weasleys.” He seemed a bit nervous. “I’m Ron and I’m brilliant at Wizards Chess. I guess I’m brave when I need to be, and I know a fair bit of magic. My best mate is Harry Potter and that just means I get into more trouble than most blokes do at our age.” He chuckled a little and the rest of the wizards did the same. “Well, I’m done, I guess.” He smiled and sat before anyone could get him to say anything else. Then Hermione stood.  
“Well, we’ve all met already, but I’m Hermione Granger. I’m the only Muggleborn Witch of my friends and according to them I’m the smartest. I-“  
“Hermione is the brightest Witch of our age and I’ll be sent to Azkaban before I hear anyone say different” We all turned to see someone we hadn’t yet met. He was short, but not as short as Leo. He had jet-black hair and if I hadn’t known that Percy was sitting near me, I would have sworn that Percy was standing there. But the three things that were different would remind me that this indeed was not the Son of Poseidon. The person standing at the door had bright green eyes, glasses and a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. 

Harry Potter had arrived at Number 12 Grimmuald Place.


	5. Harry's Temper vs Heroes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I've borrowed a LOT of JK's work in this chapter mostly because it was necessary for Harry's character and partly because I just liked the dialogue from the scenes I borrowed. There is some of my work in here, but I can say that JK is more in this chapter than I am. I'm sorry for that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DO NOT OWN ANY OF JK ROWLING'S WORK THAT IS EVIDENT IN THIS CHAPTER. I AM SIMPLY BORROWING HER DIALOGUE BECAUSE IT WAS BETTER THAN WHAT I COULD HAVE DONE WITH THE SCENES I TOOK HER WORK FROM.

FRANK

Harry Potter had arrived at Number 12 Grimmuald Place.

Knowing that this boy was the reason that we’d all left behind our lives was a bit nerve-wracking. He wasn’t even fifteen yet, and we’d decided to come to England because he was the only hope to defeat the dark wizard Lord Voldemort. Now, I can’t speak for anyone else, but seeing him when we all turned around was a bit surreal.  


“I’m sorry to have interrupted you, Hermione.” He gave Hermione a small smile but it faded off his face pretty quickly. “Is there any way I could talk to you and Ron alone for a bit?” He looked at the ten of us and for his part was very cool about seeing a bunch of strangers. “I don’t mean to be rude, I just want to talk with my friends before I do anything else.” I wasn’t at all surprised when Percy jumped up and offered his hand to Harry. Harry hesitated a moment before taking the proffered hand and Percy beamed at him. 

“Hey, if I were you I’d be doing the same thing. We’ll introduce ourselves later. We’ve definitely got plenty of time.” Harry nodded and allowed Ron and Hermione to lead him out of the room and up the stairs. Even though I'd been against it from the get go, I put the plan 'Eavesdrop' into motion. 

“I don’t mean to be a wuss, but could someone show me to the restroom? I’ve needed to go since we landed.” I got several chuckles and a few eye rolls, but Ginny stood and said she’d show me to the bathroom. She called it a loo but I guess that Brits have different ways of saying things. Once I got into the bathroom and locked the door I concentrated on the shape I wanted to take. Then when I opened my eyes I was seeing myself as a small fly. I knew I’d have to be careful because I didn’t know how violent these people would be towards flying pests.

Steering myself towards the stairs wasn’t too hard and getting up to the next level with all the bedrooms wasn’t too bad either. Getting through the doors into the rooms was the hard part. 

Once I got into the right room I flew up to the celling and tried to figure out what Ron and Hermione had told Harry so far. But before I could really get a lock on the conversation someone started shouting.  
“So how come I have to stay at the Dursleys’ while you two get to JOIN IN EVERYTHING THAT’S GOING ON HERE?” said Harry, the words tum- bling over one another in a rush, his voice growing louder with every word. “HOW COME YOU TOW ARE ALLOWED TO KNOW EVERYTHING THAT’S GOING ON?”

“We’re not!” Ron interrupted. “Mum won’t let us near the meetings, she says we’re too young —” But before I knew it, Harry was shouting. 

“SO YOU HAVEN’T BEEN IN THE MEETINGS, BIG DEAL! YOU’VE STILL BEEN HERE, HAVEN’T YOU? YOU’VE STILL BEEN TOGETHER! ME, I’VE BEEN STUCK AT THE DURSLEYS’ FOR A MONTH! AND I’VE HANDLED MORE THAN YOU TWO’VE EVER MANAGED AND DUMBLEDORE KNOWS IT! WHO SAVED THE SORCERER’S STONE? WHO GOT RID OF RIDDLE? WHO SAVED BOTH YOUR SKINS FROM THE DEMENTORS?” It seemed as though Harry was letting out all sorts of bitter and resentful thoughts that had plagued his mind over the last little bit. He was seriously angry. I didn’t know what had happened to Harry but I knew that he was seriously pissed at his best friends. “WHO HAD TO GET PAST DRAGONS AND SPHINXES AND EVERY OTHER FOUL THING LAST YEAR? WHO SAW HIM COME BACK? WHO HAD TO ESCAPE FROM HIM? ME!” Ron was standing there with him mouth half-open, clearly stunned and at a loss for words, and Hermione looked like she was about to burst into tears. “BUT WHY SHOULD I KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON? WHY SHOULD ANYONE BOTHER TO TELL ME WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING?”

“Harry, we wanted to tell you! We really did!” But Harry wasn’t having it. He cut her off with another bellow.

“CAN’T’VE WANTED TO THAT MUCH, CAN YOU, OR YOU’D HAVE SENT ME AND OWL, BUT DUMBLEODRE MADE YOU SWEAR—“

“Well he did—“

“FOUR WEEKS I’VE BEEN STUCK IN PRIVET DRIVE NICKING PAPERS OUT OF BINS TRYING TO FIND OUT WHAT’S BEEN GOING ON—“

“We wanted to—“

“I SUPPOSE YOU’VE BEEN HAVING A REAL LAUGH HAVENT YOU, ALL HOLED UP HERE TOGETHER—“

“No, honest!” Hermione looked desperate now and she’d shed a few of the tears that were threatening to spill over. “Harry, we’re really sorry! You’re absolutely right, Harry— I’d be furious if it was me!” Harry glared at her breathing deeply. He turned away from them and paced the room up and down a few times. An owl hooted glumly from the top of the wardrobe. 

“What is this place anyway?” The answer came as swiftly as the question had been asked.

“Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix” That was Ron

“Is anyone going to bother telling me what the Order of the Phoenix –“

Hermione quickly summed up what the Order was, “It’s a secret society. Dumbledore is in charge; he founded it. It’s the people who fought You-Know-Who last time.” Harry stopped pacing and turned back towards his friends.

“Who’s in it?”

“Quite a few people—“ Ron interrupted then.

“We’ve met about twenty of them, but we think there are more. “ Harry resumed his glaring.

“Well?”

“er, Well what?” Ron looked completely confused.

“Voldemort!” Harry seemed like he was still fighting back his fury. “What’s happening? What’s he up to? What are we doing to stop him?”

Hermione took over the conversation, “We’ve told you, the Order don’t let us in on their meetings. We don’t know any details, but we’ve gotten the general idea.” She finished up her sentence quickly at the look on Harry’s face.

Ron perked up at what he was about to say. “Fred and George have invented extendable ears, see, they’re really useful.”

Harry gave Ron an extremely befuddled look, “Extendable—?”

“ears, yeah. Only we’ve had to stop using them lately because Mum found out and went berserk. Fred and George had to hide them all to stop Mum binning them. But we got a good bit of use out of them before Mum realized what was going on. We know some of the order are following Death Eaters, keeping tabs on them, you know—“

“— some of them,” Hermione added, “are working on recruiting more people to the Order—”

“— and some of them are standing guard over something. They’re always talking about guard duty.”

“Couldn’t have been me, could it?” 

“Oh, yeah.” Ron had a look of dawning comprehension. Harry huffed a laugh and resumed his pacing, looking anywhere but at his friends.

“So, what have you been doing? You said you were busy.”

Hermione jumped to answer the question, “We have been busy. We’ve been decontaminating the house. Its been empty for ages and stuff’s been breeding in here. We’ve managed to clean out the kitchen and most of the bedrooms. We had those exchange students coming and we had to make the place liveable.” Harry stopped pacing again and turned back around to his friends.

“So, who are they anyway? Why is Dumbledore bringing in exchange students now? Voldemort is out there and I can’t imagine it being a good idea to bring in anyone right now.” 

Ron and Hermione shared a look. “What?”

“Well, we don’t know why they’re here other than what Mum has told us.” This sounded like my cue to leave. Hopefully Harry will want to meet all of us and talk to us for a bit before he passes any judgment.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

HERMIONE

After seeing Harry angrier than I’d ever seen him I was more than wiling to tell him anything he wanted to know provided I knew the answer to his question. Everyone in the Order had kept any news about the exchange students quiet. The newest information was that they knew Dumbledore and they’d been introduced to the whole Order. “We honestly don’t know much about them. The newest information about them we got today. And we didn’t get much more than that they know Dumbledore through a third party and they got to meet the whole Order. What that means, we just don’t know.” Harry resumed his pacing for a few more turns of the room and then looked up from the floor.

“Well, if they’ve met the Order I want to talk with them. Maybe they’ll be honest with us since we’ll all be living together until start of term.” Ron and I nodded and led Harry back down to the small living room on the second floor. When we opened the door everyone was laughing. The source of the hilarity was not what I expected. I’d assumed that Fred and George would begin to try and make the exchange students laugh or try some of their joke shop items, but it was the smallest boy in the midst of our new house guests what was causing this laughter. Apparently he was the jokester of their group. When Harry, Ron, and I all came into the room Percy stood again and met us halfway into the room. 

“Decided to come meet us then?” He had a confident smile on his face and it even made Harry chuckle a little. 

“Well, I suppose it’s better than ignoring you the rest of the summer.” Percy’s smile only widened at Harry’s crack.

“You’re the sarcastic one then, that’s great! Well, I’m Percy Jackson and resident sass master of the ten of us. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He even bowed and that sent Harry laughing. 

“Nice to meet you mate, I’m Harry Potter, but you probably knew that.” Percy nodded and motioned towards the rest of the group.

“Everyone ready to introduce yourselves again?” Lots of eye rolls were sent his way. “Well, I’m sure they’re warming up. We had a whole routine in place for the first introductions.” Percy winked and left the three of us to find seats on the floor.

“As I said, I’m Percy and I’m the sassy one. I’m the best at water polo and synchronized swimming but I’m not too bad at underwater basket weaving. The blonde to my right is my girlfriend, and I guess that’s it for me!” Percy sat down still smiling at Harry and I’m guessing that’s partly because Harry was still chucking as Percy made his way to his seat next to Annabeth.

As she stood Annabeth introduced herself to Harry, “I’m Annabeth Chase.” She smiled at Harry and then continued, “I’m the book smart one of my friends and I’m the best in a fight because I am able to strategize and apply logic to the situation. I’d say sorry about Percy, but there’s so much seaweed in his brain that I don’t actually think it’s his fault.” Percy held a look of mock horror at her words but she just laughed along with the rest of the exchange students at his plight. She sort of made up for it by kissing him on the cheek and he seemed to be placated by that. 

“Well, I’m Leo ‘Hot Stuff’ Valdez..." I hadn’t noticed it before, but while Leo was introducing himself to Harry I saw what I’d missed walking in. Even though they’d all been laughing at Fred, George and Leo, every one of the exchange students seemed more subdued than they’d been when introducing themselves earlier. Something happened that passed silently between them and not a single one of us who’d been with them earlier had noticed it until now. But as I tuned out the rest of the introductions I really looked at the new exchange students, and saw smiling faces that held a sadness in their eyes. It was like Harry had been as soon as he walked in the door and interrupted my introduction to the new students. I knew just how much he’d been trough the last several months and with all the ridiculousness of his Ministry Hearing after the Dementor attack I could understand his melancholy a lot better than I could understand why the exchange students had this same look. One thing was clear, this year I would make it my mission to do two things: help Harry become himself again, and figure out who these exchange students were. I didn’t think that any of them had lied about anything, well Percy can’t really have done anything so ridiculous as underwater basket weaving but I can’t say that for certain, but I felt like there was something very big that all of them had kept a secret from us. I didn’t know if they’d told the Order or Dumbledore, but certainly they wouldn’t have been able to come if they’d all had poor permanent records. Coming out of my thoughts I heard Piper start speaking. 

“Well, I guess that just leaves me. I’m Piper McLean. If you know my dad, please don’t go on about it because it’s a tad bit embarrassing.” She winked at Harry and smiled before she continued. “I’m not really a fighter but I am a fierce protectoress when it comes to family. I really hope that all of us,” she’d gestured to the other exchange students and then to the Weasleys, Harry and myself, “will be able to become friends during the time we’re staying together and at Hogwarts.” She sat with another smile and then Harry made to start speaking. 

“Its nice to meet all of you. I don’t know if I’ll remember all of your names the first couple of times, but I’ll certainly try.” He paused as if he didn’t really know what to say next. But he looked them over and seemed to find his courage. “I’m Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived. My whole life I’ve been a target of abuse whether from my idiot Aunt and Uncle or fellow classmates or even the most Dark Wizard of all time. I’m not fond of speeches and I don’t know if I’ll ever want people looking to me as some sort of hero, but it seems that I’ve been given the role anyway. I’ve just got one thing to ask of all of you, please don’t ever lie to me. I understand that there are things that every person keeps secret, but I’m not just some kid, I’m the kid who has a target on his back because of something that I can’t even take credit for.” I was so surprised at Harry’s speech that I almost forgot to look at the exchange students to see if they were going to answer or leave the rhetorical request rhetorical. But to my surprise Percy spoke up.

“I shouldn’t speak for everyone, but I’ve known them all long enough that I know they’d agree with me. To the best of our ability, Harry Potter, we will always be truthful with you.” Harry seemed to accept this because he relaxed visibly.

“Can I ask some questions then?” All ten of them nodded in response. “When you met the Order of the Phoenix, did you hear anything about any plans that Voldemort has or what is happening to stop him? And why did you lot need to meet the order in the first place?” There was a pregnant pause while they looked at one another as if having silent conversations. I assumed that the six of us, the Twins, Ginny, Ron, Harry and myself were all expecting Percy to speak, but Jason surprised us. 

“When Dumbledore asked us to come, he explained that it would be dangerous here. There seems to be a veil surrounding Great Britain because no one else really knows about Voldemort outside of this island. We met the Order because Dumbledore wanted us to be familiar with their faces because he would be asking them to look out for us while we were here to go to school. Some of us have to go to the Ministry of Magic while we’re here and some of the people in the Order will be there and they can’t say hello to us or people will know that something is up. I was the last one to leave the kitchen after meeting the Order and the only thing I heard not related to the ten of us was the announcement of your impending arrival. Dumbledore was selecting people to go and retrieve you.” Harry seemed placated by his answer because he moved on to his next topic. But he directed his question to those of us in the room he knew well. 

“What do you lot know about the Order and what’s happening out there? I’ve been scrounging for scraps of news and I’ve not read anything.” I couldn’t look Harry in the face. There had been so many times I wanted to write him and tell him anything, but Dumbledore made his orders explicit. Harry couldn’t know anything. It was for the best.

“Well, we don’t know much. We know that there are about thirty people in the Order. We know that they’re never all in the same room at once, but tonight they made an exception.” Fred took over for his twin.

“We also know that it was a major meeting. Snape is here and a lot of the Order members who have been abroad came back for this one. Charlie couldn’t make it but that’s alright. We’ll see him at Christmas if everything goes to plan.” All of the Weasleys missed Charlie, but they didn’t seem to get too down about it. 

“Why, is Snape here?” Harry had seemed genuinely surprised, but then he’d never had anything good to say about Professor Snape.

“Yeah,” Gerorge spoke again. “He’s giving a report. Top Secret.”

“Git.” Fred and Ron spoke at the same time. They both smiled. I was a bit perturbed.

“He’s on our side now. He’d be killed if You-Know-Who found out what he was doing.” Ron was all too happy to lay out his opinion.

“Doesn’t stop him from being a git though, does it? I mean, the way he looks at us when he sees us—“

“Bill doesn’t like him either.” Ginny spoke as though that fact settled the matter.

“Is Bill here? I thought he was working in Egypt.” Harry’s mood had definitely lightened, but just by looking at him I knew he was still angry.

“He applied for a desk job so he could come home and work for the Order,” said Fred. “He says he misses the tombs, but,” he smirked, “there are compensations. . . .” 

“What d’you mean?” 

“Remember old Fleur Delacour?” said George. “She’s got a job at Gringotts to eemprove ’er Eeenglish —” 

“— and Bill’s been giving her a lot of private lessons,” sniggered Fred. 

“Charlie’s in the Order too,” said George, “but he’s still in Romania, Dumbledore wants as many foreign wizards brought in as possible, so Charlie’s trying to make contacts on his days off.” 

“Couldn’t Percy do that?” Harry asked. Fred, George, Ron, Ginny and myself all exchanged a significant and tense look.

“Whatever you do, don’t mention Percy in front of Mum and Dad,” Ron told Harry in a tense voice. Ron looked as though he wanted to get away from this conversation, and I honestly couldn’t blame him. There were ten people in the room who were perfect strangers and each of them were listening to the conversation unfold.

“Whatever you do, don’t mention Percy in front of Mum and Dad,” Ron told Harry in a tense voice. 

“Why not?” 

“Because every time Percy’s name’s mentioned, Dad breaks what- ever he’s holding and Mum starts crying,” Fred said. 

“It’s been awful,” said Ginny sadly. 

“I think we’re well shut of him,” said George with an uncharacteristically ugly look on his face. 

“What’s happened?” Harry said. 

“Percy and Dad had a row,” said Fred. “I’ve never seen Dad row with anyone like that. It’s normally Mum who shouts. . . .” 

“It was the first week back after term ended,” said Ron. “We were about to come and join the Order. Percy came home and told us he’d been promoted.” 

“You’re kidding?” said Harry. 

“Yeah, we were all surprised,” said George, “because Percy got into a load of trouble about Crouch, there was an inquiry and everything. They said Percy ought to have realized Crouch was off his rocker and informed a superior. But you know Percy, Crouch left him in charge, he wasn’t going to complain. . . .” 

“So how come they promoted him?” 

“That’s exactly what we wondered,” said Ron, who seemed very keen to keep normal conversation going now that Harry had stopped yelling. “He came home really pleased with himself — even more pleased than usual if you can imagine that — and told Dad he’d been offered a position in Fudge’s own office. a really good one for some- one only a year out of Hogwarts — Junior assistant to the Minister. He expected Dad to be all impressed, I think.” 

“Only Dad wasn’t,” said Fred grimly.

“Why not?” said Harry.

“Well, apparently Fudge has been storming round the Ministry checking that nobody’s having any contact with Dumbledore,” said George. 

“Dumbledore’s name’s mud with the Ministry these days, see,” said Fred. “They all think he’s just making trouble saying You-Know-Who’s back.” 

“Dad says Fudge has made it clear that anyone who’s in league with Dumbledore can clear out their desks,” said George. 

“Trouble is, Fudge suspects Dad, he knows he’s friendly with Dumbledore, and he’s always thought Dad’s a bit of a weirdo because of his Muggle obsession —” 

“But what’s this got to do with Percy?” asked Harry, confused. 

“I’m coming to that. Dad reckons Fudge only wants Percy in his office because he wants to use him to spy on the family — and Dumbledore.” Harry let out a low whistle.

“Bet Percy loved that.” Ron laughed in a hollow sort of way.

“He went completely berserk. He said — well, he said loads of terrible stuff. He said he’s been having to struggle against Dad’s lousy reputation ever since he joined the Ministry and that Dad’s got no ambition and that’s why we’ve always been — you know — not had a lot of money, I mean —” 

“What?” said Harry in disbelief, as Ginny made a noise like an angry cat. 

“I know,” said Ron in a low voice. “and it got worse. He said Dad was an idiot to run around with Dumbledore, that Dumbledore was heading for big trouble and Dad was going to go down with him, and that he — Percy — knew where his loyalty lay and it was with the Ministry. And if Mum and Dad were going to become traitors to the Ministry he was going to make sure everyone knew he didn’t belong to our family anymore. And he packed his bags the same night and left. He’s living here in London now.” 

“Mum’s been in a right state,” said Ron. “You know — crying and stuff. She came up to London to try and talk to Percy but he slammed the door in her face. I dunno what he does  
if he meets Dad at work — ignores him, I s’pose.” 

“But Percy must know Voldemort’s back,” said Harry slowly. “He’s not stupid, he must know your mum and dad wouldn’t risk everything without proof —” 

“Yeah, well, your name got dragged into the row,” said Ron, shooting Harry a furtive look. “Percy said the only evidence was your word and . . . I dunno . . . he didn’t think it was good enough.” 

“Percy takes the Daily Prophet seriously,” the words came out of my mouth like a bitter pill. The others all nodded. 

“What are you talking about?” 

“Haven’t — haven’t you been getting the Daily Prophet?” I asked nervously. 

“Yeah, I have!” said Harry. 

“Have you — er — been reading it thoroughly?” I was growing more anxious knowing what they had been writing about him. 

“Not cover to cover,” said Harry defensively. “If they were going to report anything about Voldemort it would be headline news, wouldn’t it!”  
We all flinched at the name, but I tried to quickly get out the words I needed while still being cautious of Harry’s temper, “Well, you’d need to read it cover to cover to pick it up, but they — um — they mention you a couple of times a week.” 

“But I’d have seen —” 

“Not if you’ve only been reading the front page, you wouldn’t,” I shook my head. “I’m not talking about big articles. They just slip you in, like you’re a standing joke.” 

“What d’you — ?” 

“It’s quite nasty, actually,” I forced my voice to remain calm. I would not break down in front of the exchange students. I’d chanced a glance at them and they’d all stopped looking over at us and tried to make themselves look busy. “They’re just building on Rita’s stuff.” 

“But she’s not writing for them anymore, is she?” 

“Oh no, she’s kept her promise — not that she’s got any choice,” I added. “But she laid the foundation for what they’re trying to do now.” 

“Which is what?” said Harry impatiently. 

“Okay, you know she wrote that you were collapsing all over the place and saying your scar was hurting and all that?” 

“Yeah,” said Harry, who was not likely to forget Rita Skeeter’s stories about him in a hurry. 

“Well, they’re writing about you as though you’re this deluded, attention-seeking person who thinks he’s a great tragic hero or some- thing,” I tried to spew the distasteful facts as quickly as possible. I wanted to just get it over with. “They keep slipping in snide comments about you. If some far-fetched story appears they say some- thing like ‘a tale worthy of Harry Potter’ and if anyone has a funny accident or anything it’s ‘let’s hope he hasn’t got a scar on his forehead or we’ll be asked to worship him next —’” 

“I don’t want anyone to worship —” Harry began hotly. 

“I know you don’t,” I was beginning to get scared now, “I know, Harry. But you see what they’re doing? They want to turn you into someone nobody will believe. Fudge is behind it, I’ll bet any- thing. They want wizards on the street to think you’re just some stupid boy who’s a bit of a joke, who tells ridiculous tall stories because he loves being famous and wants to keep it going.” 

“I didn’t ask — I didn’t want — Voldemort killed my parents!” Harry spluttered. “I got famous because he murdered my family but couldn’t kill me! Who wants to be famous for that? Don’t they think I’d rather it’d never —” 

“We know, Harry,” said Ginny earnestly. 

“And of course, they didn’t report a word about the dementors attacking you,” I added. “Someone’s told them to keep that quiet. That should’ve been a really big story, out-of-control dementors. They haven’t even reported that you broke the International Statute of Secrecy — we thought they would, it would tie in so well with this image of you as some stupid show-off— we think they’re biding their time until you’re expelled, then they’re really going to go to town — I mean, if you’re expelled, obviously,” I went on hastily, “you really shouldn’t be, not if they abide by their own laws, there’s no case against you.” I knew that he was dreading talking about the hearing against him and I knew he’d rather talk about it when he was surrounded by fewer people who didn’t know him or the circumstances behind it. But we were all saved by the Order getting out of their meeting. Fred had stepped towards the door and taken an extendable ear with him despite his sister’s warning about the Imperturbable Charm to try and hear anything from the Order. Fred uttered an “Oh, shit” under his breath and hastily returned to his seat next to George as Mrs. Weasley made her way into the room.

“Oh, I’m happy to see you all getting to know each other.” She seemed rather up beat for having just come from a meeting. Generally they put her in a bad way for a few hours after. “The meeting is over and you can all come down for dinner. Everyone is dying to see you Harry!” With another smile at Harry she turned to walk away but turned back just as quickly and asked a question of her children. “Who’s left all the Dungbombs outside the Kitchen door?”

“Crookshanks,” Ginny didn’t even blush as she lied to her mother, “He loves playing with them.”

“Oh, I thought it might have been Kreacher, he keeps doing odd things like that. Now, all of you get washed up for dinner. And keep your voices down in the hall.” With that Mrs. Weasley headed back down the stairs. Before any of us moved Leo stood with the rest of the exchange students.

“We’ll head down first. Y’all seem like you have more to talk about.” They all smiled as they passed us and headed out into the hall. Fred and George simply apparated out and into the hall and left Ron, Harry, Ginny and myself alone in the small living room.

“I have to go wash the Dungbombs off my hands so I’ll see you lot downstairs.” With Ginny gone it left the three of us alone. None of us seemed willing to break the silence. But after a moment Harry asked another question.

“Who’s Kreacher?”

“He’s the house-elf who lives here,” Ron replied, “Nutter. Never met one like him” I got angry at Ron’s words.

“He’s not a nutter Ron—“

“His life’s ambition is to have his head cut off and stuck up on a plaque just like his mother. Is that normal, Hermione?” I was flustered and slightly furious  
because Wizards like Ron are why I wanted to keep working to further S.P.E.W and get house-elves the recognition they deserved.

“Well— well, if he’s a bit strange, it’s not his fault—“ Ron had the audacity to roll his eyes.

“Hermione still hasn’t given up on spew –“

“It’s not ‘spew’! It’s the Society for the Promotion of Elvish Welfare! And it’s not just me, Dumbledore says we should be kind to Kreacher too—“

“Yeah, yeah. C’mon, I’m starving.” I hated being interrupted, but when Ron was the one to do it, I just bristled and kept my opinion to myself because I know that growing up with so many siblings was a sure fire way to become someone who had to interrupt others to get a word in edge wise. It didn’t make me any less upset about him making fun of S.P.E.W. Before we could descend the stairs towards the food Ron was so ready to get to he threw out his arm and stopped us at the landing. 

“Hold it! They’re still in the hall, we might be able to hear something—“  
We looked over the banister into the gloomy hallway. It was packed with witches and wizards and the exchange students who were all trying to make their way past one another. The adults were whispering excitedly amongst themselves. Professor Snape was in the middle of the throng and stood out with his poorly maintained hair and prominent nose. Fred and George joined us and sent an Extendable Ear towards the group but the people who we’d wanted to hear had moved towards the door too quickly. Fred’s “Dammit,” could be heard even though he’d tried to whisper it. 

“Snape never eats here,” Ron pointed out to Harry, “Thank God. C’mon.” Feeling the need to remind them I reiterated the warning Mrs. Weasley had given.

“And don’t forget to keep your voice down in the hall, Harry.”  
We passed the row of house-elf-heads on the wall and we saw Professor Lupin, Mrs. Weasley and Tonks at the front door magically sealing its many locks and bolts behind the Order members who’d vacated the premises. 

“We’re eating in the Kitchen, Harry dear, if you’ll just tiptoe across the hall, it’s through this door here—“

CRASH.

“Tonks!” Mrs. Weasley was exasperated. She turned to look behind her at that portrait. Then Tonks tired to issue her apology.

“I’m sorry! It’s that stupid umbrella stand! That’s the second time I’ve tripped over—“ But per the usual the rest of her apology was drowned out by that horrible, earsplitting, bloodcurdling screech. The moth-eaten curtains of the portrait flew apart and Mrs. Black began her rant about the Mudbloods and Blood-Traitors who were befouling her home.

“Filth! Scum! By-products of dirt and vileness! Half-breeds, mutants, freaks, begone from this place! How dare you befoul the house of my fathers—“ She roared her speech over Tonks’ apologies and Mrs. Weasley, who’d been trying to close the curtains, gave up in favor of stunning the other portraits with her wand. Then Sirius came out of one of the other rooms of the house and stood in front of the portrait and screamed at her.

“Shut up, you horrible old hag, shut UP!” He took over trying to close the curtain and Lupin came to his aid. But when she’d seen Sirius, Mrs. Black had more to say.

“Yooooou! Blood-traitor, abomination, shame of my flesh!”

“I said— shut— UP!” Sirius and Lupin, with a stupendous effort, managed to force the curtains closed. Mrs. Black’s screeching died and an echoing silence fell. Sirius swept his long black hair out of his eyes and turned to face us, but he only had eyes for Harry. 

“Hello, Harry,” he said with a grim tone, “I see you’ve met my mother.”


	6. Here Come the Fireworks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First, I am SO sorry I haven't updated in like, forever.  
> Second, I am SO sorry that there has been so little from me in like, forever.  
> Third, I hope the length of this chapter makes up (a little) for me being a prat.

NICO

Overall our first few hours in Number 12 Grimmuald Place went fine. There weren’t any coins flipped or pens uncapped (yea, I’m looking at Percy and Jason). We all maintained a decent bit of decorum and were able to make it through dinner. Mrs. Weasley had prepared a fantastic feast. Even though she was cooking for ten extra people she seemed to have made enough for the whole of the Order of the Phoenix too. But then after seeing how much Percy ate and witnessing Ron’s table etiquite, she may not have made enough. Being the observer that I am, I was comfortable to sit next to my friends and watch as they interacted with the witches and wizards. I noticed that Harry and Sirius (who turned out to be Harry’s Godfather) were talking mostly about the Order and things to do with Voldemort. Mr. Weasley, one of his sons (Bill I think) and the former teacher, Lupin seemed to be in deep discussion as well. Despite that Harry kept being distracted between that and the other happenings at the table. Tonks, one of the Aurors, had stayed for dinner. She was what the wizards called a Polymorph. She was able to turn parts of her into other things. It was very similar to what Frank could do. (Frank had asked Hecate if he should be open with his ability to transform but she had cautioned him to not do so. Apparently it was illegal to be unregistered if you could transform into an animal. So it was just easier to keep that part of himself hidden. Of course when in the company of those in the know, he could do whatever he wanted.) But it was much less impressive after seeing Frank become any animal he could conceive of.  


“Nearly time for bed, I think,” said Mrs. Weasley on a yawn.  


“Not just yet, Molly,” said Sirius, pushing away his empty plate and turning to look at Harry. “You know, I’m surprised at you. I thought the first thing you’d do when you got here would be to start asking questions about Voldemort.” 

The atmosphere in the room changed with the rapidity Harry associated with the arrival of dementors. Where seconds before it had been sleepily relaxed, it was now alert, even tense. A frisson had gone around the table at the mention of Voldemort’s name. Lupin, who had been about to take a sip of wine, lowered his goblet slowly, looking wary. 

“I did!” said Harry indignantly. “I asked Ron and Hermione but they said we’re not allowed in the Order, so —” 

“And they’re quite right,” said Mrs. Weasley. “You’re too young.” She was sitting bolt upright in her chair, her fists clenched upon its arms, every trace of drowsiness gone. 

“Since when did someone have to be in the Order of the Phoenix to ask questions?” asked Sirius. “Harry’s been trapped in that Muggle house for a month. He’s got the right to know what’s been happen—”

“Hang on!” interrupted George loudly.

“How come Harry gets his questions answered?” said Fred angrily.

“We’ve been trying to get stuff out of you for a month and you haven’t told us a single stinking thing!” said George.

“ ‘You’re too young, you’re not in the Order,’ ” said Fred, in a highpitched voice that sounded uncannily like his mother’s. “Harry’s not even of age!”

“It’s not my fault you haven’t been told what the Order’s doing,” said Sirius calmly. “That’s your parents’ decision. Harry, on the other hand —”

“It’s not down to you to decide what’s good for Harry!” said Mrs. Weasley sharply. Her normally kindly face looked dangerous.  
“You haven’t forgotten what Dumbledore said, I suppose?”

“Which bit?” Sirius asked politely, but with an air as though readying himself for a fight.

“The bit about not telling Harry more than he needs to know,” 

As all of this unfolded, we all watched the argument turning our heads back and forth from Sirius to Mrs. Weasley as though following a tennis match. Ginny was kneeling amid a pile of abandoned butterbeer corks, watching the conversation with her mouth slightly open. Lupin’s eyes were fixed on Sirius.

“I don’t intend to tell him more than he needs to know, Molly,” said Sirius. “But as he was the one who saw Voldemort come back” (again, there was a collective shudder around the table at the name), “he has more right than most to —”

“He’s not a member of the Order of the Phoenix!” said Mrs. Weasley. “He’s only fifteen and —”

“— and he’s dealt with as much as most in the Order,” said Sirius, “and more than some —”

“No one’s denying what he’s done!” said Mrs. Weasley, her voice rising, her fists trembling on the arms of her chair. “But he’s still —”

“He’s not a child!” said Sirius impatiently.

“He’s not an adult either!” said Mrs. Weasley, the color rising in her cheeks. “He’s not James, Sirius!”

“I’m perfectly clear who he is, thanks, Molly,” said Sirius coldly. 

“I’m not sure you are!” said Mrs. Weasley. “Sometimes, the way you talk about him, it’s as though you think you’ve got your best friend back!” 

“What’s wrong with that?” Harry interrupted. 

“What’s wrong, Harry, is that you are not your father, however much you might look like him!” said Mrs. Weasley, her eyes still boring into Sirius. “You are still at school and adults responsible for you should not forget it!” 

“Meaning I’m an irresponsible godfather?” demanded Sirius, his voice rising. 

“Meaning you’ve been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and —” 

“We’ll leave my instructions from Dumbledore out of this, if you please!” said Sirius loudly. 

“Arthur!” said Mrs. Weasley, rounding on her husband. “Arthur, back me up!” Mr. Weasley did not speak at once. He took off his glasses and cleaned them slowly on his robes, not looking at his wife. Only when he had replaced them carefully on his nose did he say, “Dumbledore knows the position has changed, Molly. He accepts that Harry will have to be filled in to a certain extent now that he is staying at headquarters —” 

“Yes, but there’s a difference between that and inviting him to ask whatever he likes!” 

“Personally,” said Lupin quietly, looking away from Sirius at last, as Mrs. Weasley turned quickly to him, hopeful that finally she was about to get an ally, “I think it better that Harry gets the facts — not all the facts, Molly, but the general picture — from us, rather than a garbled version from . . . others.”

His expression was mild, but Harry felt sure that Lupin, at least, knew that some Extendable Ears had survived Mrs. Weasley’s purge.

“Well,” said Mrs. Weasley, breathing deeply and looking around the table for support that did not come, “well . . . I can see I’m going to be overruled. I’ll just say this: Dumbledore must have had his reasons for not wanting Harry to know too much, and speaking as someone who has got Harry’s best interests at heart —”

“He’s not your son,” said Sirius quietly.

“He’s as good as,” said Mrs. Weasley fiercely. “Who else has he got?”

“He’s got me!”

“Yes,” said Mrs. Weasley, her lip curling. “The thing is, it’s been rather difficult for you to look after him while you’ve been locked up in Azkaban, hasn’t it?”

Sirius started to rise from his chair.

“Molly, you’re not the only person at this table who cares about Harry,” said Lupin sharply. “Sirius, sit down.”

Mrs. Weasley’s lower lip was trembling. Sirius sank slowly back into his chair, his face white.

“I think Harry ought to be allowed a say in this,” Lupin continued. “He’s old enough to decide for himself.”

“I want to know what’s been going on,” Harry said at once. He did not look at Mrs. Weasley. He had been touched by what she had said about his being as good as a son, but he was also impatient at her mollycoddling. . . . Sirius was right, he was not a child.

“Very well,” said Mrs. Weasley, her voice cracking. “But I don’t think I’m stepping out of bounds to say that the rest of the children, all of mine, the exchange students, and Hermione should be made to leave the kitchen immediately.”

There was uproar at those words. All of the Weasley siblings, save Bill and Charlie, were ganging up on their mother and trying to get her to see reason. Eventually Percy gave his best Taxi whistle and everyone shut up. Percy flushed a little at the attention but decided to say what he’d meant to say.

“Sorry. I just wanted to end all the shouting.” Mrs. Weasley and Sirius had the decency to look abashed. “I just wanted to say, the ten of us will go upstairs to let you settle the argument, or whatever. We don’t need to know what’s going on as much as I know we’re all curious. I know we were kind of thrown into your lives unannounced and you’re trying to figure out how to, I don’t know, deal with that I guess. But we don’t have to make this any harder.” 

Percy chanced a glance at Harry and the other kids our age. 

“We want to eventually count you all as friends but we know that friendships don’t just happen overnight.” He let out a huff of a laugh and looked at Annabeth at his right. “I know the first time I met Annabeth she told me I drooled in my sleep and it took me a while to actually become her friend.” Annabeth flushed a little and took Percy’s hand in hers. He smiled back at her before turning back to the group of people still watching him. He cleared his throat and continued. “The Moldy-shorts guy,” He was cut off by laughter from everyone at the table. “What?” 

Percy looked genuinely confused. Harry was the one who held in his laughter long enough to be able to form a clear sentence. 

“Mate, you just called the most evil and dark wizard of all time ‘Moldy-shorts’.” Harry still had a bright smile on his face as he explained Percy’s bungle to him. Before Percy could embarrass himself further, Annabeth patted him on the arm and took over for him. 

“What my Seaweed Brain was trying to say was we know that it’s important to have any and all information about your enemy. Voldemort is yours, Harry, and you have every right to know all you can about what he’s planning. But, I know from experience that sometimes having the answer you want may not always lead to the victory.” 

If anyone noticed all ten of us demigods grow somber at that, well they didn’t say so. “Anyway, we’ll all get out of your hair and make it ten less people who bother the adults for information.” She smiled at Mrs. Weasley and made to get up, as did the rest of us. 

“Wait,” we all turned back to the table to see Harry standing and looking at us. “Mrs. Weasley is right about me not needing to know everything. And while I’m probably going to tell Ron and Hermione everything I learn, I think I’d tell you lot too. I mean, trust is the beginning to any friendship, right?” he gave us all a small smile that grew just a little bit with his next statement, “Any group of people who can call Voldemort ‘Moldy-shorts’ deserve a chance, am I right?” 

Everyone laughed again and the tension that was so thick in the room began to dissipate. Mrs. Weasley was still not happy, but she decided that if she couldn’t have her way then she’d at least try to mediate. 

“I admit, I’m never one to see children grow up too fast, but I daresay all of you have been thrown into a world where its just not possible anymore. You can all stay, but if there’s something too much for them at this moment I want to be able to stop the conversation.” She looked at Sirius while she spoke. 

“For what it’s worth, I am sorry, Molly. I just get—“  
Molly smiled as she interrupted his apology, “I know, Sirius. I know its been hard for you.” After a pause where everyone got situated at the table, Mr. Weasley spoke, 

“Well, I suppose we should get this conversation on the road. I’m sure the jet lag will catch up with our guests soon.”


	7. Less Like Dinner, More Like Anger

NICO

Overall our first few hours in Number 12 Grimmuald Place went fine. There weren’t any coins flipped or pens uncapped (yea, I’m looking at Percy and Jason). We all maintained a decent bit of decorum and were able to make it through dinner. Mrs. Weasley had prepared a fantastic feast. Even though she was cooking for ten extra people she seemed to have made enough for the whole of the Order of the Phoenix too. But then after seeing how much Percy ate and witnessing Ron’s table etiquette, she may not have made enough. When the ten of us demigods offered our sacrifices in the fireplace everyone stared at us before turning back to their meals. We knew that it was going to be strange eating with people who didn't offer the first portion of their meal to a god or goddess, but we had the choice to just ignore the stares and eat our food. Being the observer that I am, I was comfortable to sit next to my friends and watch as they interacted with the witches and wizards. I noticed that Harry and Sirius (who turned out to be Harry’s Godfather) were talking mostly about the Order and things to do with Voldemort. Mr. Weasley, one of his sons (Bill I think) and the former teacher, Lupin seemed to be in deep discussion as well. Despite that Harry kept being distracted between that and the other happenings at the table. Tonks, one of the Aurors, had stayed for dinner. She was what the wizards called a Polymorph. She was able to turn parts of her into other things. It was very similar to what Frank could do. (Frank had asked Hecate if he should be open with his ability to transform but she had cautioned him to not do so. Apparently it was illegal to be unregistered if you could transform into an animal. So it was just easier to keep that part of him hidden. Of course when in the company of those in the know, he could do whatever he wanted.) But it was much less impressive after seeing Frank become any animal he could conceive of. 

“Nearly time for bed, I think,” said Mrs. Weasley on a yawn. 

“Not just yet, Molly,” said Sirius, pushing away his empty plate and turning to look at Harry. “You know, I’m surprised at you. I thought the first thing you’d do when you got here would be to start asking questions about Voldemort.” The atmosphere in the room changed rapidly. Where seconds before it had been sleepily relaxed, it was now alert, even tense. A frisson had gone around the table at the mention of Voldemort’s name. Lupin, who had been about to take a sip of wine, lowered his goblet slowly, looking wary. 

“I did!” said Harry indignantly. “I asked Ron and Hermione but they said we’re not allowed in the Order, so —” 

“And they’re quite right,” said Mrs. Weasley. “You’re too young.” She was sitting bolt upright in her chair, her fists clenched upon its arms, every trace of drowsiness gone. 

“Since when did someone have to be in the Order of the Phoenix to ask questions?” asked Sirius. “Harry’s been trapped in that Muggle house for a month. He’s got the right to know what’s been happen—”

“Hang on!” interrupted George loudly.

“How come Harry gets his questions answered?” said Fred angrily.

“We’ve been trying to get stuff out of you for a month and you haven’t told us a single stinking thing!” said George.

“ ‘You’re too young, you’re not in the Order,’ ” said Fred, in a high-pitched voice that sounded uncannily like his mother’s. 

“Harry’s not even of age!”

“It’s not my fault you haven’t been told what the Order’s doing,” said Sirius calmly. “That’s your parents’ decision. Harry, on the other hand —”

“It’s not down to you to decide what’s good for Harry!” said Mrs. Weasley sharply. Her normally kindly face looked dangerous. “You haven’t forgotten what Dumbledore said, I suppose?”

“Which bit?” Sirius asked politely, but with an air as though readying himself for a fight.

“The bit about not telling Harry more than he needs to know,” said As all of this unfolded, we all watched the argument turning our heads back and forth from Sirius to Mrs. Weasley as though following a tennis match. Ginny was kneeling amid a pile of abandoned butterbeer corks, watching the conversation with her mouth slightly open. Lupin’s eyes were fixed on Sirius.

“I don’t intend to tell him more than he needs to know, Molly,” said Sirius. “But as he was the one who saw Voldemort come back” (again, there was a collective shudder around the table at the name), “he has more right than most to —”

“He’s not a member of the Order of the Phoenix!” said Mrs. Weasley. “He’s only fifteen and —”

“— and he’s dealt with as much as most in the Order,” said Sirius, “and more than some —”

“No one’s denying what he’s done!” said Mrs. Weasley, her voice rising, her fists trembling on the arms of her chair. “But he’s still —”

“He’s not a child!” said Sirius impatiently.

“He’s not an adult either!” said Mrs. Weasley, the color rising in her cheeks. “He’s not James, Sirius!”

“I’m perfectly clear who he is, thanks, Molly,” said Sirius coldly. 

“I’m not sure you are!” said Mrs. Weasley. “Sometimes, the way you talk about him, it’s as though you think you’ve got your best friend back!” 

“What’s wrong with that?” Harry interrupted. 

“What’s wrong, Harry, is that you are not your father, however much you might look like him!” said Mrs. Weasley, her eyes still boring into Sirius. “You are still at school and adults responsible for you should not forget it!” 

“Meaning I’m an irresponsible godfather?” demanded Sirius, his voice rising. 

“Meaning you’ve been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and —” 

“We’ll leave my instructions from Dumbledore out of this, if you please!” said Sirius loudly. 

“Arthur!” said Mrs. Weasley, rounding on her husband. “Arthur, back me up!” Mr. Weasley did not speak at once. He took off his glasses and cleaned them slowly on his robes, not looking at his wife. Only when he had replaced them carefully on his nose did he say, 

“Dumbledore knows the position has changed, Molly. He accepts that Harry will have to be filled in to a certain extent now that he is staying at headquarters —” 

“Yes, but there’s a difference between that and inviting him to ask whatever he likes!” 

“Personally,” said Lupin quietly, looking away from Sirius at last, as Mrs. Weasley turned quickly to him, looking hopeful that she would get an ally, “I think it better that Harry gets the facts — not all the facts, Molly, but the general picture — from us, rather than a garbled version from . . . others.” He must have been talking about the twins’ invention and how that would lead to some information being heard but not being very accurate.

 

“Well,” said Mrs. Weasley, breathing deeply and looking around the table for support that did not come, “well . . . I can see I’m going to be overruled. I’ll just say this: Dumbledore must have had his reasons for not wanting Harry to know too much, and speaking as someone who has got Harry’s best interests at heart —”

“He’s not your son,” said Sirius quietly.

“He’s as good as,” said Mrs. Weasley fiercely. “Who else has he got?”

“He’s got me!”

“Yes,” said Mrs. Weasley, her lip curling. “The thing is, it’s been rather difficult for you to look after him while you’ve been locked up in Azkaban, hasn’t it?”

Sirius started to rise from his chair.

“Molly, you’re not the only person at this table who cares about Harry,” said Lupin sharply. “Sirius, sit down.”  
Mrs. Weasley’s lower lip was trembling. Sirius sank slowly back into his chair, his face white.

“I think Harry ought to be allowed a say in this,” Lupin continued. “He’s old enough to decide for himself.”

“I want to know what’s been going on,” Harry said at once. He did not look at Mrs. Weasley. 

“Very well,” said Mrs. Weasley, her voice cracking. “But I don’t think I’m stepping out of bounds to say that the rest of the children, all of mine, the exchange students, and Hermione should be made to leave the kitchen immediately.”  
There was uproar at those words. All of the Weasley siblings, save Bill and Charlie, were ganging up on their mom and trying to get her to see reason. Eventually Percy gave his best Taxi whistle and everyone shut up. Percy flushed a little at the attention but decided to say what he’d meant to say.

“Sorry. I just wanted to end all the shouting.” Mrs. Weasley and Sirius had the decency to look abashed. “I just wanted to say, the ten of us will go upstairs to let you settle the argument, or whatever. We don’t need to know what’s going on as much as I know we’re all curious. I know we were kind of thrown into your lives unannounced and you’re trying to figure out how to, I don’t know, deal with that I guess. But we don’t have to make this any harder.” Percy chanced a glance at Harry and the other kids our age. “We want to eventually count you all as friends but we know that friendships don’t just happen overnight.” He let out a huff of a laugh and looked at Annabeth at his right. “I know the first time I met Annabeth she told me I drooled in my sleep and it took me a while to actually become her friend.” Annabeth flushed a little and took Percy’s hand in hers. He smiled back at her before turning back to the group of people still watching him. He cleared his throat and continued. “The Moldy-shorts guy,” He was cut off by laughter from everyone at the table. “What?” Percy looked genuinely confused. Harry was the one who held in his laughter long enough to be able to form a clear sentence. 

“Mate, you just called the most evil and dark wizard of all time ‘Moldy-shorts’.” Harry still had a bright smile on his face as he explained Percy’s bungle to him. Before Percy could embarrass himself further, Annabeth patted him on the arm and took over for him. 

“What my Seaweed Brain was trying to say was we know that it’s important to have any and all information about your enemy. Voldemort is yours, Harry, and you have every right to know all you can about what he’s planning. But, I know from experience that sometimes having the answer you want may not always lead to the victory.” If anyone noticed all ten of us demigods grow somber at that, well they didn’t say so. “Anyway, we’ll all get out of your hair and make it ten less people who bother the adults for information.” She smiled at Mrs. Weasley and made to get up, as did the rest of us. 

“Wait,” we all turned back to the table to see Harry standing and looking at us. “Mrs. Weasley is right about me not needing to know everything. And while I’m probably going to tell Ron and Hermione everything I learn, I think I’d tell you lot too. I mean, trust is the beginning to any friendship, right?” he gave us all a small smile that grew just a little bit with his next statement, “Any group of people who can call Voldemort ‘Moldy-shorts’ deserve a chance, am I right?” Everyone laughed again and the tension that was so thick in the room began to dissipate. Mrs. Weasley was still not happy, but she decided that if she couldn’t have her way then she’d at least try to mediate. 

“I admit, I’m never one to see children grow up too fast, but I daresay all of you have been thrown into a world where its just not possible anymore. You can all stay, but if there’s something too much for them at this moment I want to be able to stop the conversation.” She looked at Sirius while she spoke. 

“For what it’s worth, I am sorry, Molly. I just get—“

Molly smiled as she interrupted his apology, “I know, Sirius. I know it's been hard for you.” After a pause where everyone got situated at the table, Mr. Weasley spoke, 

“Well, I suppose we should get this conversation on the road. I’m sure the jet lag will catch up with our guests soon.”

_______________________________________________________________________________________________  
PERCY

“Where’s Voldemort? What’s he doing? I’ve been trying to watch the Muggle news,” he said, ignoring the renewed shudders and winces at the name, “and there hasn’t been anything that looks like him yet, no funny deaths or anything —”  
“That’s because there haven’t been any suspicious deaths yet,” said Sirius, “not as far as we know, anyway.. . . And we know quite a lot.” 

“More than he thinks we do anyway,” said Lupin. 

“How come he’s stopped killing people?” Harry asked. 

“Because he doesn’t want to draw attention to himself at the moment,” said Sirius. “It would be dangerous for him. His comeback didn’t come off quite the way he wanted it to, you see. He messed it up.” 

“Or rather, you messed it up for him,” said Lupin with a satisfied smile. 

“How?” Harry asked perplexedly. 

“You weren’t supposed to survive!” said Sirius. “Nobody apart from his Death Eaters was supposed to know he’d come back. But you survived to bear witness.” 

“And the very last person he wanted alerted to his return the moment he got back was Dumbledore,” said Lupin. “And you made sure Dumbledore knew at once.” 

“How has that helped?” Harry asked. 

“Are you kidding?” said Bill incredulously. “Dumbledore was the only one You-Know-Who was ever scared of!” 

“Thanks to you, Dumbledore was able to recall the Order of the Phoenix about an hour after Voldemort returned,” said Sirius. 

“So what’s the Order been doing?” said Harry, looking around at them all. 

“Working as hard as we can to make sure Voldemort can’t carry out his plans,” said Sirius. 

“How d’you know what his plans are?” Harry asked quickly. 

“Dumbledore’s got a shrewd idea,” said Lupin, “and Dumbledore’s shrewd ideas normally turn out to be accurate.” 

“So what does Dumbledore reckon he’s planning?” 

“Well, firstly, he wants to build up his army again,” said Sirius. “In the old days he had huge numbers at his command; witches and wizards he’d bullied or bewitched into following him, his faithful Death Eaters, a great variety of Dark creatures. You heard him planning to recruit the giants; well, they’ll be just one group he’s after. He’s certainly not going to try and take on the Ministry of Magic with only a dozen Death Eaters.” 

“So you’re trying to stop him getting more followers?” 

“We’re doing our best,” said Lupin. 

“How?” 

“Well, the main thing is to try and convince as many people as possible that You-Know-Who really has returned, to put them on their guard,” said Bill. “It’s proving tricky, though.” 

“Why?” 

“Because of the Ministry’s attitude,” said Tonks. “You saw Cornelius Fudge after You-Know-Who came back, Harry. Well, he hasn’t shifted his position at all. He’s absolutely refusing to believe it’s happened.” 

“But why?” said Harry desperately. “Why’s he being so stupid? If Dumbledore —” 

“Ah, well, you’ve put your finger on the problem,” said Mr. Weasley with a wry smile. “Dumbledore.” 

“Fudge is frightened of him, you see,” said Tonks sadly. 

“Frightened of Dumbledore?” said Harry incredulously. 

“Frightened of what he’s up to,” said Mr. Weasley. “You see, Fudge thinks Dumbledore’s plotting to overthrow him. He thinks Dumbledore wants to be Minister of Magic.” 

“But Dumbledore doesn’t want —” 

“Of course he doesn’t,” said Mr. Weasley. “He’s never wanted the Minister’s job, even though a lot of people wanted him to take it when Millicent Bagnold retired. Fudge came to power instead, but he’s never quite forgotten how much popular support Dumbledore had, even though Dumbledore never applied for the job.”

“Deep down, Fudge knows Dumbledore’s much cleverer than he is, a much more powerful wizard, and in the early days of his Ministry he was forever asking Dumbledore for help and advice,” said Lupin. “But it seems that he’s become fond of power now, and much more confidant. He loves being Minister of Magic, and he’s managed to convince himself that he’s the clever one and Dumbledore’s simply stirring up trouble for the sake of it.” 

“How can he think that?” said Harry angrily. “How can he think Dumbledore would just make it all up — that I’d make it all up?” 

“Because accepting that Voldemort’s back would mean trouble like the Ministry hasn’t had to cope with for nearly fourteen years,” said Sirius bitterly. “Fudge just can’t bring himself to face it. It’s so much more comfortable to convince himself Dumbledore’s lying to destabilize him.” 

“You see the problem,” said Lupin. “While the Ministry insists there is nothing to fear from Voldemort, it’s hard to convince people he’s back, especially as they really don’t want to believe it in the first place. What’s more, the Ministry’s leaning heavily on the Daily Prophet not to report any of what they’re calling Dumbledore’s rumormongering, so most of the Wizarding community are completely unaware anything’s happened, and that makes them easy targets for the Death Eaters if they’re using the Imperius Curse.” 

“But you’re telling people, aren’t you?” said Harry, looking around at Mr. Weasley, Sirius, Bill, Mundungus, Lupin, and Tonks. “You’re letting people know he’s back?” They all smiled humorlessly. 

“Well, as everyone thinks I’m a mad mass murderer and the Ministry’s put a ten-thousand-Galleon price on my head, I can hardly stroll up the street and start handing out leaflets, can I?” said Sirius restlessly. 

“And I’m not a very popular dinner guest with most of the community,” said Lupin. “It’s an occupational hazard of being a werewolf.” He glanced up at us demigods as he outed himself to ten strangers. 

I felt the need to reassure him that we weren’t the types to judge based on species, but Nico beat me to the punch.

“Mr. Lupin, I know we’re new to Britain and the customs and things, but I know I speak for all of us,” He pointed at all us demigods, “when I say that we won’t hold anything against you because of what you are.” He paused and looked at his hands for a minute before speaking again. “I grew up thinking that the way I felt about boys was wrong and something to be ashamed of. I never felt at home in my own skin. And then I met my cousin and fell into the worst kind of crush.” He looked back up at Lupin after sparing me a glance. “It took me a long time to accept that what I felt was ok. But never once did any of my friends treat me different because of it. If anything they encouraged me to be myself no matter what. I know that being gay and being a werewolf are very different, but being gay in a world where its not really ok to be gay is similar, I think. All that to say, I’m sorry you were bitten, but I’m not sorry to know you even with the bite. It's obvious to me that all the people in this room have decided that they don't care that you are a werewolf. You can count the ten of us in that number as well. To quote a Muggle book and totally butcher it, ‘A person is a person no matter how small.’ Add in the wording you want that fits your situation, but it’s meaningful none the less.” Dam. Nico never monologues. He must have really felt the need to get his feelings off his chest. I smiled and caught his eye. 

“Dam good speech, cos’. I couldn’t have said it better myself.” I saw Hermione and Ron exchange a glance as I revealed my relationship to Nico and subsequently outed that he’d crushed on my before dating Will. But I knew he wouldn’t get mad about it. He’d made a very convincing speech just now, after all. He rolled his eyes and gave me a smile that could only come from a place of fond exasperation. Then he looked to Will and they placed their joined hands on top of the table where everyone could see.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here's two chapters and a peace offering. 
> 
> I'm going out of town for a trip. I'll be pursuing dreams of teaching while I'm gone as well as working with Deaf students. While I'm gone idk how much time I'll have to write. I'm going to update as much as I can between now and then. I haven't been good to my readers as of late, but I'm going to try to be better. I find myself reading fan fics wondering if people will choose to repost and realized I was being a hypocrite. I am truly sorry for those of you who have been with me the whole time. I will do better. I promise. I'm going to finish this series because I love my characters and I love my story and I love to write. No matter what, I will keep writing. 
> 
> I will be better.


	8. First Night, First Fright

JASON

If anyone had asked me what happened after Nico’s speech with the grand finale of placing his and Will’s hands on the table, fingers intertwined for all to see, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you anything other than Harry asked more questions and got his answers. I was just so proud of my cousin. Ok, so he’s more like my brother but that’s neither here nor there. I’d talked with him about his disposition and feeling towards PDA several times. He’d just never been able to be free to be who he was. After a year in a relationship with a great guy, he was finally able to sit in the open with his boyfriend and hold his hand. And now he’s in a new environment, he’s with strangers, and he’s opened up to them and given them a chance to hurt him, but they’ve surprised him and given him the chance to be himself. 

Piper elbowed me out of my thoughts and pointed to the door where we were all headed. Apparently it was time for bed. 

“Just make sure to be quiet on your way up, dears.” Mrs. Weasley gave us all a parting smile. Somehow, I think her and Percy’s mom would have loved one another.

“Mom, we’ll be fine.” Ron rolled his eyes in fond exasperation and lead us all out of the kitchen and up the stairs to the landing with the bedrooms. “Does everyone remember where they put their stuff?” 

“Well, considering I don’t know the way to the bathroom, its safe to say that no, I have no clue which room I’m supposed to be in.” Only Leo. Luckily, Frank was on his game. 

“Leo, Percy and I are all in the same room. I think we’re in with Harry and Ron.” Ron, Percy and Leo nodded and the aforementioned guys headed in that direction. 

“I suppose that leaves the other blokes with us.” One of the twins took the front and the other hopped in behind us and lead us away from the girls who were obviously all going to room together even though there was plenty of room to split up. 

Getting ready for bed with five guys in the same room was not easy. Its especially not easy when you forget that you’re not with just your friends and start to totally undress and have to be reminded that there are two near strangers in the room as well. I apologized, slipped my orange Camp Half-Blood shirt over my head and stepped out to say goodnight to Piper. Apparently I wasn’t the only one with this idea since I passed Percy and Annabeth huddled together by the railing whispering quietly to one another. Thankfully, I have a wonderful girlfriend who understands me. Piper was waiting outside the girls room and when she saw me she smiled, stepped towards me with her hand out, and pulled me over to the corner to sit and talk a little before bed. 

“Well, today has been one damn interesting day, hasn’t it?” I had to chuckle a little at that. 

“Yea, interesting is one way to put it.” I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. She laid her head on my shoulder and I rested mine on top of hers after pressing a kiss into her hair. We sat like that for several moments before she said anything else.

“Jason, did we make the right choice? This just got a lot more complicated. Every one of us knows what that prophecy said about Harry but no one here knows that. We know that there are pieces of Voldemort’s soul scattered throughout the country but no one else here knows that and for some reason Dumbledore is keeping that information secret. These people are not totally prepared for what is happening. I just don’t know how much more of this I can take. Its going to be three years of this, Jason. And after its all over who knows if any of us will be left standing.” She paused and I took the opportunity to enter into the conversation.

“Pipes, we didn’t sign up for easy. We knew that we were coming into a messed up situation. We knew that we’d all be at risk. Why do you think we encouraged Leo and Nico to tell Calypso and Will? We wanted them to get the chance to be together in case something happened. We still don’t know how its all going to turn out, but we do know that in the end, good will overcome evil. Its not going to be like Gaea or any of the other quests we’ve been on. Its going to be different in a lot of ways, but not just bad ways. All of our closest and best friends are here. None of us are separated from our partners, and no one here is being weird about any of us being together. We’re going to be going to school where we get to learn magic! Despite the war that is waiting to tear Great Britain apart, there are things to be excited about. We just have to look for them, each and every day.” After pressing another kiss into her hair, I helped Piper to her feet and kissed her properly. She relaxed into my kiss and let herself take comfort in it. I felt her shoulders relax as she wound her arms around my neck and threaded her fingers through the short hairs at the back of my head. I wrapped one arm around her waist and cupped her cheek with the other. Even after dating for over a year, I still haven’t gotten used to being able to kiss Piper. She became a rock for me when the whole memory snatch happened and he never knew how he’d gotten through life without her. 

Kissing Piper was always passionate. Even though they weren’t the ‘it’ couple of the group of demigods, they were probably the ones who’d needed that firm reminder from Mrs. Weasley about appropriate displays of affection. With that in mind I pulled back and rested my forehead against Piper’s and looked into her eyes.

“I love you, Pipes, and I know that you’re feeling all out of wack with everything happening, but we can do this so long as we’re together.” She smiled a small, sad smile at me and I knew that, at least for tonight, she’d be ok. “Let me walk you back to your room so we can get some sleep.” She nodded and let me guide her back to the girls’ room. With one last peck on her lips I headed back to my room where I’d left Will and Nico alone with the twins. Hopefully there hadn’t been any weirdness while he’d been gone.

 

ANNABETH

“Percy, I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep tonight.” It had been the first thing I’d said once I’d gotten him alone over by the stair rail. “This is going to be the first night we’ve not been in the same bed since Ta—since we were in Hades’ realm.” It was still hard for me to say Ta—that name would loud or even in my head. But to be fair, having lived through hell was an experience one should never have. She shouldn’t have had to endure it, and Percy shouldn’t have had to fall with her in order to keep his promise. They shouldn’t be war heroes at 20 and they shouldn’t have PTSD either. It was just a shitty all around life. 

“Annabeth, if I thought that we wouldn’t get locked away for sneaking into the spare room after everyone else is asleep I’d say we should just sleep in there together. But you heard Mrs. Weasley. We can’t. But if you need me, I’ll break the rules for you. I mean, if you really want me to, I’ll go and talk to Mrs. Weasley right now.” I was very tempted to do just that. Part of me knew that eventually we’d have to separate when we were here, but I was still woefully unprepared. 

“It’s ok, Percy. I’ll be ok.” He gave me that smile and immediately I’m lost in the light of his eyes. They haven’t been as bright since he fell to be with me in Ta—that place—but sometimes, when we’re alone and no one is there to see it, I can see the light he lost when we fell. “Just hold me until I have to get back in the room with the others.” He gave a soft chuckle and wrapped me in his arms. 

“I can do that.”

 

HERMIONE

Ginny and I kept to ourselves as the other girls told their boyfriends goodnight. It was so weird that an exchange program would pick all couples to send. Surely they all knew that they couldn’t sleep in the same rooms, right? Despite my confusion I knew that each of these couples were the real deal. All I had to do was open my eyes. 

Watching Annabeth and Percy together was like seeing two halves of a whole interact. They just fit perfectly. I’m sure that they heard from everyone that they seemed so lucky to have found the one so young. But if I had to hazard a guess, I’d say that they were a little more than lucky. Despite Percy and Annabeth seeming like they were made for one another didn’t take away from any of the other couples. They all seemed to be very compatible with one another. They just didn’t have that same feel that Annabeth and Percy had. It was kind of hard to explain, especially to Ginny. 

“I don’t know what it is, they all are in love, I know that, but there’s something deeper about Percy and Annabeth.” Ginny seemed to be satisfied by my answer.

“Did you notice her playing with the necklace she always wears?” I had noticed. 

“Did you notice that all but two of them seem to have similar necklaces?” Ginny’s eyes widened at that. I smiled knowing I was probably the only one who’d seen that. Before she could ask how I noticed I decided to tell her. “I didn’t notice at first but Hazel and Frank are the only ones without bead necklaces. Piper, Calypso, Jason, Leo, and Nico only have one bead but Annabeth, Percy, and Will have several. I think it has something to do with their school. Annabeth also has several other things on hers. But I couldn’t tell what exactly it was because she kept fiddling with it.” Ginny nodded but looked like she was going to say something. As soon as she opened her mouth, the door opened and the rest of the girls came into the room. Piper was the most unkempt of all of them. Probably due to a snog before bed. I wasn’t going to judge her, if I had a boyfriend and he looked like Jason, I’d get a proper snog before bed too. I smiled at them and they all smiled back. “Well, I guess we’re all ready for bed.” It was a little awkward just because none of us knew how the others acted at bedtime. I know Ginny and I could stay up talking for hours talking. I didn’t know if that’s how these girls spent the time. Piper seemed to think that we were all being stupid because she said as much.

“I know none of us know each other but lets get the awkwardness over with. We’re girls! We can make small talk until we fall asleep.” She smiled at Ginny and I, and with a glance between the red-head and myself we both smiled back. “Of course we can. What shall we talk about?” As the girls settled into their beds or cots they seemed to mull it over. Annabeth was the one to break the ice.

“You were a Muggle-born, correct?” I nodded my assent. “How shocked were you to find out about a whole other world? I’m sure it was just as exciting as it was nerve-wracking.” She didn’t mean any ill by her statement. She was just curious. Her smile gave it away. I smiled back before I answered.

“Honestly, I was relieved to get my letter alerting my family that I was a witch. My accidental magic was making things difficult to hide. I wondered constantly if there was something wrong with me because none of the other children had the issues I had. When teachers gave us homework I didn’t understand, books would just appear at my desk or the table where I was working. It scared my parents a lot the first time it happened. They didn’t treat me any differently than before, but the magic put a lot of stress on them. After learning the truth about who I was, it was easier for them to wrap their minds around. Every year I’ve been at Hogwarts I send them a book that gives them more information about this other part of me.” I smiled at the memories of the letters they’d send after getting their books. “They love me very much, but it's hard sometimes. I can’t share part of who I am with them because of the laws against underage sorcery. Its part of the Statute of Secrecy that keeps Muggles from knowing anything about Witches and Wizards.” I looked down at my lap to gather my thoughts. I struggled to find the words that would describe how I felt about that in more depth but Annabeth decided to speak then.

“I know how that feels.” She gave me a sad smile. “My dad and my step-mom didn’t believe me when strange things would happen around our home. But unlike you, my dad knew exactly what was going on. He just chose to believe my step-mother over me. I ran away from home at 7.” I gaped at her. No one should feel they had to run away at seven! “I know, it sounds crazy, but I didn’t really have a choice. I made it to a place in New York, a place where people were like me.” She smiled then as if remembering, but her smile was as sad as the one she’d given me earlier. Wasn’t finding somewhere safe something happy? “I was there for five years before I met Percy. Until then there were people there I cared for, and that I was comfortable around, but there wasn’t really anyone I trusted. When I was able to find someone who I actually trusted, I got that feeling of relief. But I was able to get re-connected with my dad a few years ago. My step-mom listened to what I had to say and she and my twin step-brothers are a part of my life. I didn’t have that before.” She smiled her sad smile again and I couldn’t help but feel that any of the stories about the ten of the new students were going to be as sad as hers. It didn’t make me any less curious, however. 

Smiling back at her, I responded. “I’m glad you were able to finally find him. He seems like he’s very important to you.” 

“He is.” We shared another smile. 

“Ok,” Piper drew the attention of all of us. “That is the farthest from small talk we could have possibly gotten.” We all shared a laugh at that. She was right of course. But it was hardly my fault. Annabeth had asked the question. “But I can hardly begrudge my best friend her deep questions. That’s just how AB rolls.” I saw Annabeth roll her eyes at the shortening of her name. “As much as I want to delve into the pain of childhood trauma, lets save that for tomorrow night, yea?” Again we all laughed. But we all nodded as well. “Ok, so lets fall back to the standard girls night topics: boys, clothes, and school gossip.” Piper seemed to be able to calm the room with just her voice. All of the tension and awkwardness was gone. It was a nice feeling. “Obviously you two will have to catch us up on Hogwarts gossip as we’ve not been there to witness any of the silliness. But for now I say we start with boys or clothes.” When no one said anything Ginny broke the silence.

“Ok, so tell us how all of you met or got together with your boyfriends. And for the fun of it tell us about Nico and Will, because honestly, other than Annabeth and Percy they have to be the cutest couple of all of you. And I don’t mean to say that none of the rest of you are cute couples, because you definitely are, but for some reason those two couples just stand out.” All of the exchange girls were giving knowing smirks to Annabeth who had gone Gryffindor scarlet. 

Piper again took the floor. “Well, if AB is gonna be shy I’ll start.” Annabeth stuck her tongue out at Piper, who just laughed and began her tale. After everyone had gone and even Nico and Will’s story had been told we still hadn’t heard how Percy and Annabeth became a couple. It seemed as though her friends were just as interested as those of us who didn’t know her. Had she never told anyone how it happened? “Ok, Annabeth, it's your turn.” Piper gave her friend an encouraging smile. “I know you haven’t actually told this story to anyone because that’s just how you are, but this is a chance to break free from your bad habit of not trusting anyone.” Apparently I’d been right to guess that Annabeth had never told her story. But if she didn’t want to tell, who were we to make her?

“Annabeth, if you don’t want to, we’re not going to beg for the story. Harry, Ron and I are the best of friends. We have been since our first year at Hogwarts. But there are things about them that I don’t know, and vice versa. But know that neither Ginny nor I will tease you about anything that you tell us. I suppose you could consider anything that comes to light in this room will never be heard by the ears of anyone outside of it.” Ginny nodded and Piper and Annabeth gave me bright smiles, but I noticed that Annabeth’s didn’t really reach her eyes. What had happened to her?

“Well, I guess I’ll start, but I have no idea how to even begin. I fought my feelings for Percy for a long time. And when I finally decided to listen to what my heart had been telling me for so long, I lost him. It isn’t a normal story and some of the things that happened,” she stopped for a moment and looked like she was trying to figure out how to describe what she was thinking, “some of our story I just can’t physically make myself talk about. It was literally h-hell. But I’ll try to explain how I was able to find out that he was truly my other half.” If anyone else noticed how she stumbled over the word hell, they didn’t say. But her smile at the end made me almost think that I’d been mistaken about what I had heard. “Percy came to camp because someone thought he’d stolen a powerful artifact. The first time I ever laid eyes on him he was laid out on a bed in the infirmary because he’d been in a fight before he crossed the protective barrier of our safe haven. He had drooled in his sleep and there were times he’d wake up and he’d mention something about his mother. See, the person he fought had taken his mother in a ball of fire. Everyone thought she’d died, but we found out later that she was being held captive by his uncle as ransom.” This was the way they met? No wonder she wasn’t really sure how to begin. As we listened to this fantastic story of adventure and mayhem, we were all captivated by every word. As many times as we were able to laugh, there were just as many times we weren’t able to do anything other than sit in open-mouthed shock at a part of Annabeth’s story. After hearing what must have been the severely edited version of their love story, Annabeth ended with a smile. “I never thought I’d find someone who would love me that fiercely. He really is my other half, and I know that he’ll always be right there for me through anything.” After hearing some of their story I was certain that I wanted to find a love like that. 

 

Three hours after midnight all of the girls, and most likely some of the boys, were woken by screams. Annabeth had warned us that she might wake us up with a nightmare, but I didn’t think that anything could cause nightmares to be this bad. She was writhing on her cot with tears streaming down her face. Piper was trying to wake her from her sleep. After another round of screams Percy burst into the room in nothing but his shorts. After a moment to take in that all of us were awake, Percy schooled his features into a determined mask.

“Pipes, I got this.” Piper nodded her head and backed away from her best friend’s bed. Despite having tried to not give himself away by his face, the pain at seeing Annabeth in this state showed on Percy’s face. Creaking floorboards alerted me to the arrival of more people. Mrs. Weasley and Sirius were both standing in the door with Ron, Leo and Harry. After a moment Mrs. Weasley waved me over. 

“Hermione, dear, what’s happened?” 

“Annabeth told us that she’s been suffering from nightmares for the last year and a half. She even said she might wake us up. But I don’t think she realized it’d be this bad.” Annabeth screamed again and we all jumped. Leo’s face, though, showed no shock so he must have known about the nightmares. We were all looking to him for the answer. He sighed and gave it to us, albeit reluctantly.

“Percy and Annabeth have been through a lot together. Two years ago something really bad happened to them and the only reason they aren’t in straight jackets is because they had each other.” He gave us a significant look and then continued. “They won’t talk about it with anyone because it’s just not any of our business. But I will say that usually they’re not this bad.” He looked past us to his friends in the room and as he spoke our gazes are drawn to them as well. “Those two are some of the unluckiest people I know. This year was supposed to be good for them. They weren’t supposed to get thrown into—" He cut himself off and I saw Harry give him a calculating look. "Sorry. I’m rambling.” He turned to Mrs. Weasley and Sirius, “After Percy manages to wake her up he’s going to ask if he can stay with her. Please don’t deny her a good nights sleep. I know that you had rules about appropriate behavior, but I know that this is the first night they haven’t been able to sleep next to each other in a year and a half. Percy has nightmares too, but he’s able to turn off the part of his brain that makes you cry out when you’re in a bad one. I know because I had to wake him up to go take care of Annabeth. He was in the middle of his own nightmare.” Mrs. Weasley can only nod. Sirius, though, seems to find his voice. 

“Molly, if it makes you feel better, I can get Snuffles to sit in the room tonight.” I know Sirius is trying to keep the exchange students from knowing that he’s an Animagus, but in light of the situation I doubt any of them would really care. Mrs. Weasley, again, can only nod. I’m almost worried she’s holding back tears. Before I can ask if she’s ok Percy comes over to the group of us.

“Um, I’m really sorry everyone got woke up. And I know Annabeth is too.” He fidgets under Sirius’ gaze. But he looks back to his girlfriend and after setting his shoulders he turns back and any doubt that he will fight for what she needs is out the window.

NICO 

Waking to hear Annabeth’s screams was not at all pleasant. Waking to hear Annabeth’s screams while in the arms of my boyfriend made things a little easier. He pulled me closer to him and I grasped him back just as tight. After another bout of screams I heard footsteps on the stairs and realized that Annabeth must have woken some of the adults as well.

“Will, I’m going to go make sure she’s ok.” He knew that I was the only other person, besides Percy, who knew what she was dealing with. He knew that gave the three of us a weird kind of bond that I’d never have with him. On nights like this, I thank the gods that I fell for the son of Apollo because he just let me go. “I know that—“

“Go, Sunshine, I’ll be here when you get back.” After pressing a kiss into my neck and giving me one last squeeze, he let me go.

“I love you too, Will.” He smiled at me when I gave him a kiss before heading into the hall. As I approached the girls’ room I heard Leo trying to explain what was going on. Despite his best efforts though he almost gave something of their collective secret away. I waited until he finished so I wouldn’t interrupt. But Percy was at the door before I had really made my presence known.

“I know you made the rules and I’m sorry I have to even ask, but can I stay with her? I know you don’t understand what’s giving her these dreams, but it was bad enough that we don’t really sleep unless we’re together.” He trailed off towards the end and I decided to try and do what I could.

I tapped Sirius on the shoulder and asked if I could squeeze by him. He let me past and I came face to face with Percy. “I’ll go check on her for you.” He gave me a tired, but grateful smile and turned so I could squeeze through the door.

“Thanks, Nic.” I nodded and made my way to Annabeth. She was awake but she wasn’t looking good. It must have been a really bad one. Piper was sitting on the cot behind her running her fingers through Annabeth’s hair in an attempt to soothe some of the nightmare away. I know from experience that it does help, but I didn’t know if that was something Annabeth needed when she was like this. Her knees were drawn up to her chest and she had her arms wrapped tightly around them. I couldn’t be sure, but it looked like she was rocking slightly.

Softly as not to startle her, I whispered, “Hey,” she jumped slightly and looked up at me. I gave her a soft smile and while she didn’t return it, I saw her mouth tick slightly. I knew she was grateful I was here too. “My cousin is valiantly fighting to stay by your side for the rest of the night, but what can I do to help?” She looked at me for a moment but soon enough she released her knees with one arm and held out her hand to me. I took it in one of mine and let her pull me in to sit on the cot near her feet. She turned back to look at Piper and they had one of their silent conversations. Funnily enough, I knew exactly what passed between them. The ten of us grew close for the few months that the Romans stayed to help rebuild Camp Half-Blood, close enough that we could have near whole conversations without even uttering a single syllable. After Piper nodded and got off the bed, Annabeth turned and was able to give me a very small, very grateful smile. I returned it willingly. She was still holding my hand, but she turned so that her head could rest against my shoulder and she wrapped her arms around mine. I knew I’d get uncomfortable quick, but I also knew that I’d last until Percy convinced the adults to let him spend the rest of the night in the girls’ room.

“Thank you, Nico.” It was said so softly I almost missed it. It was surprising that she’d spoke to me at all.

I lowered my voice so only she could hear me, “Well, you’re going to be my cousin-in-law, and other than Perce I’m the only one who knows what you’re going through. It was the least I could do.” She surprised me again by laughing. I was never there for the worst of hers and Percy’s nightmares, but knowing my own, made what was happening was a complete shock. Apparently Percy agreed with me because after hearing Annabeth laugh he abruptly ended his conversation with Mrs. Weasley and Sirius to look over at his fiancé. All I could do was raise the shoulder not occupied by a blonde head and give him the silent ‘I have no clue’. He raised an eyebrow in question and I nodded that it was ok. He nodded back and turned back to the adults. After Annabeth stopped laughing she lifted her head off my shoulder and looked at me. She gave a slightly larger smile.

“I’ve never laughed after one of those before. Thank you.” She squeezed my arm and looked down at her lap. “Percy and I haven’t dealt well with the nightmares. How did you do it? I know you aren’t in the Apollo Cabin every night and I know he’s not in Hades every night either. How…” She trailed off and I thought about how best to answer her.

After a moment I responded. “Will made me face it.” Her eyes widened a fraction. “Yea, I was mad at him at first, but he told me that there would be times where I just couldn’t stay the night with him and where would I be then? If I made friends at school and they invited me to stay the night, would I just say no every time?” I let out a sigh, “He loves me, and he knew that I just wanted to deal with it on my own; that’s just how I did things before we got together. But he pushed me to be better. I’m not saying that you and Percy are any less in love because of the way you dealt with what we went through. I just know that not talking about it has made it a lot worse for the two of you.” I had to steel myself for the next part of this conversation. I made it a point to avoid this topic with anyone who wasn’t his boyfriend. “I don’t know how sexually active the two of you are, but this has to be hurting you two in that area of your relationship as well.” She froze at that and I knew I had hit the nail on the head. “Annabeth, I don’t want to know. I’m just letting you know how I got past it, for the most part. I still have nightmares every once in a while. I would be worried if I didn’t. I’m a demigod child of the big three after all.” She smiled a little at that. “Talking about what we went through down there sucks. It's not fun and I hated every minute of it. But once I told Will everything, I was able to really let go of the fear.” Looking at her, I knew I needed to say the name for her because I had to have Will say it the first time for me. “Annabeth, I’m going to say the name.” She looked at me in fear, and was going to protest, but I gave her the please let me help you look that Will used on me when I was in her place. “Annabeth, Tartarus cannot hurt you anymore.” She inhaled sharply at the name and shuddered very visibly. As a tear fell from her eye, I saw the determination Annabeth was so known for flicker to life in her bright grey orbs.

Quietly so as to make as little noise as possible, she got out one phrase. “Ta—ta… Tartarus cannot hurt me anymore.” I knew I’d been the only one to hear it, but it was the first step in taking back her mind from the nightmares. I beamed at her, a proper toothy smile.

“You should be pleased Wise Girl, he only gives those smiles to Will.” I turned to see Percy looking at us with a relieved and happy expression on his face. “Thanks for looking after her, Nic. I really appreciate it.”

I smiled with my reply, “What are families for?”


	9. Diagon Alley is Camp Half-Blood for the Wizards

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally we're moving along with the story! I know I've been stuck on 'day one in the wizarding world for the demigods' for a few chapters...ok all 8 have been that way. But we are finally ready to get this show on the road. One more chapter to get the gang their supplies from Diagon Alley and onto the Hogwarts express. You can hold out that much longer, right?

PIPER

Despite that first night in Grimmauld Place being extremely trying, the rest of the summer passed by without many more incidents. Harry’s trial over the underage magic thing, and he was able to return to Hogwarts. Other than needing to go to Diagon Alley to get our school things, there wasn’t much else to do other than clean up around the house and read what books we had been able to borrow off of the other kids. Hermione was most amiable to letting us read her textbooks. Two days before we were to leave for Hogwarts, Mrs. Weasley announced that the book lists had arrived and that we’d be making the trip into Diagon Alley. The Wizards among us seemed excited by the prospect but Mrs. Weasley seemed nervous about all of us getting to and from. After suggesting that we rent another car to take into Muggle London, Hermione and Annabeth also suggested that those familiar with the Floo Network could take the fireplaces while the others apparated. Eventually it was decided that Fred and George would apparate their younger siblings in side-along apparition, Harry and Hermione would use the Floo Network, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley would side-along the rest of us in pairs. We all discovered that we hated apparition. Shadow travel with Nico was preferable to apparition and everyone, besides Nico, hated shadow travel. 

Hermione and Harry had tried to tell us what Diagon Alley would be like, but their explanations paled in comparison to the real thing. Witches and Wizards were everywhere shopping and using magic. It was amazing to see people just being themselves without having to worry about someone hating them for their magic. It reminded me of Camp Half-Blood in that way. Turning to Hermione, who had been given the task of helping the female demigods make their way to all the stores, I asked how Diagon Alley remained hidden from Muggles.

“It's protected by several charms. It’s not unplottable, but it is masked. Any Muggles who don’t know about the Wizarding World will suddenly remember things they need to do or places they need to go rather than enter the Leaky Cauldron.”

“That’s amazing. It’s too bad though.” At her questioning look I huffed a laugh, “Well, it would be easier if the world just knew about magic, wouldn’t it? Sure there would be a few tough years where the Muggles would ask for help too many times, and there would be some issues with human rights, but wouldn’t it be easier to keep allies against Voldemort if the rest of the world knew what was happening in the Wizard World?” She gave me a small, sad smile. 

“I wish it could be like that sometimes. It’d make telling my neighbors why there’s an owl bringing letters to and from my parents house a lot easier, and I wouldn’t have to lie to them about just how dangerous my life has gotten since I found out that I’m a witch. But knowing that they love me and accept me for all of me, for now that is enough. One day, hopefully, the whole world will know about magic. One day maybe there will be widespread peace. But for now, we keep the magic secret from Muggles and protect our friends and families with the gift we’ve been given. It's all we can do at the moment.” After collecting herself she pointed towards a different store. “We need to get your robes for Hogwarts done there. It will take a while to get all four of you done so Madam Mankin will have to send them to Grimmauld Place tomorrow, but that just means less we have to carry back with us later.” We all nodded for her to take the lead and we followed her to get our robes made. 

“Does Hogwarts have any rules about wearing robes during times when you’re not in class?” Annabeth had moved up to walk next to Hermione in order to continue to ask questions about the Wizard World and all its nuances. It had been no surprise that the two had hit it off. They were both book nerds and if I hadn’t known any better, I’d have said Hermione was a half sister to Annabeth. She had the mind of an Athena kid and I knew that the rest of the demigods were thinking along the same lines as I was. The only problem with finding someone who values knowledge as much as you do is figuring out who is smarter than the other. For the last two weeks Annabeth had been trying to out-read Hermione. She’d found a spell that transformed the words on the page to fit the language the reader needed and had asked Mrs. Weasley to perform it on all her books and all the books she borrowed from Hermione. If Mrs. Weasley had thought it was a strange request, she hadn’t commented on it. After that it had been easier for Annabeth to show off her knowledge of magic and try to bait Hermione into a lengthy discussion. Thankfully we were able to walk out of the room or tune them out when they got a little more heated than necessary. All of us knew that Annabeth was fiercely competitive but it seemed that, in the interest of being the ‘brightest witch of her age’ Hermione and developed a healthy level of academic competition. In the beginning it had been funny and a little entertaining. Now, though, their attitudes left a lot to be desired. 

“Not unless it’s a special occasion. You do have to wear your appropriate House robes until end of lessons, but other than that they don’t particularly care how you dress so long as it's appropriate length. Ginny gets in trouble with her hemline on her skirts sometimes but most teachers aren’t really paying attention to what you wear outside of the hours you’re in lessons…” Hermione went on to describe the appropriate length for girls skirts and boys shorts and that is when I decided to tune them out. We’d made it to the front of the shop and were heading in to get what we needed. I was in the back of our entourage, and as I prepared to walk into the store I heard my name being called. I turned to see a tall, leggy, and shockingly attractive woman standing to my right. 

“Mom?” I was pretty sure I was dreaming or daydreaming or hallucinating. My mom never did this. Percy and Nico were the only ones of us to have regular contact with our godly parents. Aphrodite wouldn’t have come for a social call. She just didn’t do that. She must have seen the confusion on my face because she quickly tried to reassure me. Needless to say, she was unsuccessful. 

“Oh, Piper, sweetheart, I’m sorry to have startled you. I’m here on official business. Why they thought I had to come instead of Athena or Ares is beyond me.” She frowned just slightly before returning to that strangely blinding smile she wore constantly. She took my arm and led me to an alley between two of the stores. “The gods are aware of the quest you and your friends are taking and they aren’t all that happy about not being in the loop.” I waited to see if she was going to say more, but it seemed as if I was wrong.

“If you and the other gods are so upset, take it up with Hecate. She’s the one who asked us to go. Better yet, take it up with Voldemort. He’s the reason we’re here anyway. I know Hades will be upset over the lack of evil dark Wizard in Tartarus.” Even I was surprised by my outburst. I know that the gods have an ever-present fear of Zeus and his stupid rules about gods and their parents, but I can’t help but feel like if they really wanted to see us they just would. Percy and Nico see Poseidon and Hades on a non-regular biweekly basis. Why don’t the other gods grow a pair and visit their kids when they want? “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get angry. I just wish you were here to see me instead of giving me bad news from the gods.” I looked my mother in the eyes and I saw that she really was upset about being here. I hoped it was for the reasons I was upset. If it wasn’t I don’t know how I’m going to handle it. “Hecate gave us the option to join or deny her quest. We were all prepared to say, find someone else, but then we heard about Harry Potter. Mom, he’s just like us. His whole life was dictated by prophecy and he’s fought his way through too many battles and the war has just begun. He’s fifteen and he’s seen terrible things. He’s no Percy Jackson, that’s for sure, but they’re similar enough that we knew we had to come and try to save him from losing as much as we have. Too many people think that they deserve to be better than everyone else. Too many people try to use fear and power to control others into doing their bidding. The gods aren’t so different sometimes.” I let out a sigh and finished my spiel. “Tell the other gods that they’re children are sorry. Hecate and Apollo both should have told you about it. But tell the gods that we are going through with this quest. If you want to stop us, you’ll have to take care of Voldemort and the Death Eaters yourselves.” With that I gave my mom a smile, squeezed her hand and left her in the alley. Looks like I had a lot to talk about with the other demigods. Who knows how this will turn out. 

 

RON

The day we were to catch the Hogwarts Express was pure chaos. All of the exchange students woke late and Percy hadn’t even packed his stuff yet. Thank Merlin mum had thought of everything. Unfortunately, dad couldn’t get the Ministry cars for all of us to ride to the station in comfort. We had to all be apparated to the station. There were several order members who had volunteered to come and get all of us to Platform 9 ¾, so we would be on time. Sirius was the only one who put up a fight to be allowed to go. Eventually, Annabeth and Hermione spoke to him and somehow, he made the choice to stay. It was weird just how smart the two of them were. I mean, Hermione I’m used to. But since her and Annabeth had started becoming chummy, it was like they were always discussing magic or Hogwarts or some obscure thing that none of the rest of us knew about. It was frightening at best and Bins worthy droning at worst. 

Harry and I had gotten to know Percy, Leo and Frank pretty well over the last few weeks; Jason too, if I’m honest. They were all really cool blokes. Percy and Jason had a weird rivalry/friendship. They teased each other a lot and once it even got so far as a wrestling match. It was pretty funny to watch. Annabeth and Piper had placed bets on who would win and bet that the other’s boyfriend would come out victorious. The other exchange students had laughed with them and it seemed like this was a familiar scene wherever they were from. Frank was kind of quiet but he looked like the kind of bloke who would be wrong to cross. He really liked talking with Sirius about being an Animagus. Other than Harry, I think Sirius will miss Frank the most. Leo though spent a lot of time with Fred and George. He seemed in awe of the stuff they’d been making for their joke shop. I think he even helped them out with a few problems they’d been having. Leo had to be observed in the room after we’d gone to bed. Percy stayed with the girls after that first night but slowly he began to come back to stay in the room with us. Every night he didn’t stay with the girls he’d have bags under his eyes, but the less he stayed over with them the happier he got. It was really strange. Leo though was a talker. Harry said once that Leo reminded him of Colin Creevey. 

For some reason Harry seemed to think that there was an ulterior motive behind the exchange students coming to Hogwarts. And really, I could see where he could be right. One month after having survived dueling You-Know-Who, there are ten students, all in our year, who come for an exchange program. If anything we should be sending people away from Britain, not into it. Then there are the weird things that keep happening around the exchanges. The nightmares that Percy and Annabeth shared had been the first thing that seemed off. Nico also seemed to have been affected by whatever it was. Hermione should be proud. I’m learning to observe. A week ago I saw Leo, Fred and George testing out something in the twins’ room and thought nothing of it. But when Frank had walked in to see what they were doing Leo freaked out about fire and Frank went white as a sheet. As he backed out of the room to go find someone else, I thought it was strange but then he might just have been afraid of fire. The next weird thing was with Calypso. She seemed like the only one of the exchanges who didn’t understand the random Muggle or Wizard phrases. It was like she’d been on an island by herself all her life. The other thing I noticed was that the ten of them would randomly speak in a different language. Hermione said that it was very strange because these languages hadn’t been used in something like hundreds of years. But when one of them would say something in that other language, “It's either Greek or Latin Ron,” then the rest of them would do the same. It was really hard to follow any of their conversations. Another thing that the exchanges did was put the first portions of their meals in the fire. They would whisper something to the flames and dump their food in the fire. It never smelled bad but it was just downright weird. Then there was the whole thing with them getting wands at Ollivander's. what kind of wizard school made you wait til you were fifteen to get your wand?

I was pulled out of my thoughts when Moody told me it was time to get going. I gathered all of my things and Pigwidgeon in his cage and went to stand near Fred, George, and Ginny. Once Mad-Eye gave the signal I felt the familiar squeezing sensation and then we were on Platform 9 ¾. The point we’d all apparated to was out of the way and no one seemed to be giving us much of a second look. Once everyone was gathered Mad-Eye gave us all the ‘Stick together and don’t be stupid’ speech. “Run along the lot of you. Don’t want to miss the train.” 

As we all approached the nearest car Hermione posed an excellent question. “Where are we all going to sit? We can’t all fit in the same car and I know we don’t all want to split up.” Before anyone could say anything else, Annabeth made the decision for us. 

“You three have probably been riding the train together since you met. The ten of us can split into groups of five and get compartments near each other. The rest of you just do what you normally do. We’re fifteen, not five. We’ll be fine.” With a smile and a hug Annabeth and the exchanges waved and made their way onto the train. 

“Well, I guess we better get a move on then. We don’t want to miss the train.” Hermione looked thoughtful but then grabbed Harry and I to get us on the train. Once we found a compartment we settled in for the familiar ride to school. It was going to be one weird year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I meant to ask all of you to guess where our heroes would get sorted at Hogwarts. If you get it right, I'll give you a shout out! Look for a new chapter tomorrow!


	10. The Train, The Sorting, The Start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally! We're so close to figuring out who's going where! Here's the demigods' predictions for themselves. Notice that they didn't think about where Will or Calypso should go. 
> 
> Gryffindor: Jason, Piper, Frank  
> Ravenclaw: Leo and maybe Annabeth  
> Hufflepuff: Percy and Hazel  
> Slytherin: Annabeth and Nico

JASON

“Guys, what are we going to do about the gods? We can’t just send them sacrifices and hope they’ll be appeased. Aphrodite was sent as a warning. Something isn’t right.” Annabeth had been worried since Piper had told us all about her mom’s visit. Once we’d found two rooms that were side-by-side and empty we’d split up and locked our doors with magic. After applying a privacy charm, Annabeth had asked Percy to use his water bottle to make a rainbow for us to chat with the demigods in the other car. After seeing that he could hold the connection, she asked him to do another so they could IM Chiron as well. 

“Apollo and I have been to Olympus to discuss the nature of this quest with them. Hecate was suspiciously unable to attend the discussions. The Big Three have put a lock on all gods coming to and from Hades or Olympus for the time being. Something is stirring but no one has any idea as to what that could be. Zeus has sent Apollo and Rachel to Delphi to ascertain if anything can be done to heal what had been broken. I believe that Ella and Tyson went as well.” 

“Chiron,” Percy had broken his silence, “If something is happening with the godly side of things, we’re going to be too far away to help. We are the senior campers from both camps. We’re the most powerful demigods in centuries and we’re in Scotland trying to help out a kid who doesn’t even understand the enormity of the situation he’s in. This is all too weird to be a coincidence. Someone wanted us here, out of the way for whatever is happening with the gods. I don’t like being a puppet Chiron, none of us do. After Delphi was desecrated I thought we were done being the playthings of the universe.” Ditto. I felt the same way Percy did, but I had only been the subject of one prophecy that decided the fate of the world. He’d been part of two. And the first had put him off his godly family in a bad way. But he was right about all of this seeming to be coincidence. There was something evil at work here. 

“I know that this does seem to be the work of someone who wanted the ten of you out of the way. If that is the case, somehow Hecate is involved. Don’t trust her blindly if she pops in to check on you. I will do my best to keep you apprised of the situation here.” For now try to focus on the task at hand. You will be getting to Hogwarts tonight, correct?” We all nodded to him and he continued. “Take time to enjoy being in school with each other. It will be the only time all of you are able to do so. And you’re gong to a magic school. This won’t be so bad. Try and have a little fun before you worry too much about what is happening here and outside of the school. I will contact you in a month per our agreement. Be safe, and stick together.” At that Chiron ended his IM. Percy shook his head once and appeared to be grateful to only have to maintain one of the IMs. 

“Well, I guess we just need to enjoy the rest of the train ride and figure out everything else once we settle in at Hogwarts.” Nico’s laugh came through the remaining IM.

“Annabeth, I swear you get more concise every quest I’m on with you.” Annabeth smirked at him. 

“Come to the compartment door if you need to contact us. Percy won’t have enough water to do this again.” We waved goodbye to the other demigods and Annabeth cut the connection. She then removed the locking and privacy charms from the door. “I’m going to take a nap. Wake me when we get close. Hermione said we’ve got to change into Hogwarts robes before we get to the station.” Percy assured her that we’d make sure she had enough time to change. The rest of us decided to play cards in lieu of sleep. 

~

ANNABETH

Arriving at the Hogsmeade Train station was just as chaotic as leaving Kings Cross. There were so many children and it was hard to hold onto your own belongings and make it out of the train in one piece. 

“First Years line up over here, please! All First Years to me!” The woman standing swinging around a lamp must have been a professor. I looked around to see Harry, Ron, Hermione and a strange blonde heading towards the exit of the station.

“Guys, look, there’s Harry. Let’s follow him.” The rest agreed and we made our way towards our new friends. We weren’t expecting to meet up with them in front of a mass queue of carriages. Once I made it up to where the three were standing I asked Hermione about the animals that were pulling them. 

“Annabeth, there aren’t any animals. These are horseless carriages. They have been ever since we’ve been here.”  
“No, Hermione, there are horses there. Can’t you see them?” Harry looked concerned that his friend wasn’t able to see what he could. Hermione again insisted that there were no horses. Eventually the strange blonde spoke.

“Don’t worry, you’re not going mad. I’ve always been able to see them. You’re just as sane as I am.”

There were creatures standing between the carriage shafts; if I had had to give them a name, I suppose I would have called them horses, though there was something reptilian about them, too. They were completely fleshless, their black coats clinging to their skeletons, of which every bone was visible. Their heads were dragonish, and their pupil-less eyes white and staring. Wings sprouted from each vast, black leathery wings that looked as though they ought to belong to giant bats. Standing still and quiet in the gloom, the creatures looked eerie and sinister.

“Lets just get in the carriage and get up to the school, yea?” It was the best option. Thank the gods for Hermione.

After a tense carriage ride and a short walk we arrived at the gates to Hogwarts. The castle was enormous. I noticed so many things at once I had to take a second look. The stone was a dark grey and it made an impressive sight against the steadily falling sun. Before I’d had enough time to properly appreciate the architecture I felt a pull on my robes. When I turned to see who’d tugged at me I was met with sea green. Smiling I allowed Percy to pull me towards the doors to the castle. When we stepped inside there was a little more time to notice things, as there was a long line of students trying to get into a room off to the side. There were several suits of armor lining the hall. Something that surprised me was the sheer amount of stone knights carved into the walls that went floor to ceiling on two of the four walls. But like outside, I was pulled from my observations far too soon. Tomorrow I planned on coming back to study the entrance hall to the castle. Entrances say a lot about buildings. 

After seeing the inside of the Great Hall, however, I decided that maybe I’d just make it a three-year project. Studying Hogwarts was going to take a lot of time and research. The high ceiling gave way to the night sky. Hermione had lent me her copy of Hogwarts, A History and I’d read it cover to cover twice. It hadn’t prepared me for the sheer size of the place. It was no Olympus, but then nothing was able to meet the gods’ home when it came to architecture. I’d made sure of it. Not knowing where to go once we entered was a strange sensation. Thankfully, we were greeted by a teacher before the rest of the student body’s eyes all popped out of their heads. 

“Hello, and welcome to Hogwarts. I am Professor McGonagall and I’ll be helping you get sorted into your houses for the duration of your stay. Follow me up to the front and we’ll get you lot out of the way and then the First Years will be sorted as well.”

As she spoke she’d directed us to follow her to the front of the Great Hall. It became apparent that no one had told the other students about the ‘exchange program’ happening this year. A few students were able to tone down their gawking, but most just decided that they’d be just fine letting everyone know they were surprised about ten people showing up out of no where. Upon reaching the front of the room where the teachers were sat, Dumbledore rose from his chair and made his way from behind the staff table. When he got to the podium set up in the middle of the raised platform, the hall quieted almost instantly.

“Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts. I hope you all have enjoyed your summer holidays. We have a few announcements to make before the sorting of our first year students. First, the Ministry of Magic has approved a transfer student program with a school in the United States of America. This is the first program of its kind ever to be tested at Hogwarts. Britain has always prided itself on its stellar education and people in the West have noticed. The ten students were selected based on desire to attend, and willingness to leave home for three years to gain a different sort of education. These students have agreed to be sorted into the four Hogwarts houses and have been made aware of each and what they stand for. They have, undoubtedly guessed where they might be placed, but I dare say our Sorting Hat might surprise them. The second announcement falls to our prefects. These ten students will all be joining our fifth year students. This means that there will have to be some accommodations made to our student dorms. Wherever these students are sorted, please assist the house elves in any way you can to ensure there will be enough room for all our guests. The third announcement is to our Quidditch Captains. The transfer students will be attending Hogwarts for the next three years. You may consider them full members of whichever House they are sorted into. They will be eligible to play for their House teams.” The soft whispering in the hall grew at that last announcement. But with a raise of his hands Dumbledore was able to get the entire hall to quiet down. “Now, without further adieu, Professor McGonagall will you read out the names of the transfer students to be sorted?”

McGonagall nodded and conjured a stool out of thin air and placed a very old looking hat upon it. Suddenly the brim split and the hat spoke:  
For the first time in all my years I’m being asked to sort more that first years.  
Perhaps I’m not just for telling young Brits where they will go?  
Neither am I just for telling Scots that they are wanted here.  
And don’t forget those singing Irish who deem themselves as worthy.

For the first time in my many years I’m getting to meet some Yankees.  
Perhaps I’ll have much fun and earn some time to sing!

“When I call your name approach the stool and place the Sorting Hat upon your head. After it considers your attributes, it will place you in one of the four houses. Once it has done so, please make your way to the appropriate table.” And with that McGonagall pulled out a scroll and began to read off our names. 

“Annabeth Chase,”

Oh, Hades. Of course I’d have to go first. After pausing for only a moment, I made my way to the Sorting Hat. I gently picked it up, sat upon the stool, and placed the decider of my future at Hogwarts upon my head. For a moment nothing happened. Then I felt a strange sensation in the back of my mind.

Well, what do we have here?  
I gasped and felt more than heard Percy step towards me but knew that no one would allow him to get to me when the hat was no real threat.

I’ve only met one of your kind before. She was a Daughter of Athena as well. It was many years ago mind you.

“Do I need to speak out loud for you to hear me?” I heard a few chuckles but didn’t know if it was students or teachers or even my own boyfriend who had made the sound. Blocking everything else out, I focused on the hat’s presence in my mind.

No, my child, you do not.

“So, Slytherin or Ravenclaw? I know that I’m brave and noble enough to enter Gryffindor and I’m a damn sight loyal enough to be a Hufflepuff, but my strongest attributes are my mind and my strategy. So, Ravenclaw or Slytherin?” I figured that of all the houses I was best suited to be a Slytherin or a Ravenclaw.

My, my, you do know a thing or two, don’t you. Yes, I can see that deep thirst for knowledge that drives you to be the best. But I also see the cunning and ambition you have that makes you a… hmm… Wise Girl I think is how you’d put it.  
I had to chuckle at the hat pulling Seaweed Brain’s nickname for me out of my head.  
But above all you seek to know more. That cunning will certainly help you in your quest to unite our fair school. Enjoy your time in…RAVENCLAW!!  
I jumped as the hat spoke aloud for the first time since its little poem. Taking the hat off my head I was able to focus on my surroundings again. I heard cheers coming from the table I assumed was the Ravenclaw’s table. With a look back at Percy I made my way to where one of the older looking girls was waving me over and smiling brightly at me. I also saw the strange blonde from earlier sitting a few people down from her.

“Hi! My name is Padma. I’m the prefect girl in Fifth Year. I’ll help you get settled while you’re here.” She said she'd fill me in more once the sorting was finished.

“Nico Di Angelo,” I hoped Nico would be ok wherever the hat put him. Despite the hat being completely right about my thirst for knowledge, I had been more attracted to Slytherin House. It just didn’t seem fair to be only known for my brain. Well, I suppose with that attitude I’d be better sorted for Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. After a few more moments of silence from the hat, it finally shouted for Nico to join the Slytherin table like we’d all thought in the beginning when we were just placing ourselves for the fun of it. Now that we were here though, it was all the more real.

“Calypso Frederick” Calypso was the quickest of the first three to be sorted. She joined me at the Ravenclaw table and seemed happy with her lot. 

“Well, at least I know I won’t be alone in the dormitories.” We shared a smile at that. 

“Jason Grace,” as soon as the hat touched his head it shouted out GRYFFINDOR. He was startled out of his robes (well he could have been) but made his way to the cheering Gryffindors.

“Perseus Jackson,” Percy made his way up to the hat whispered something to McGonagall and then sat to take his turn with the hat. If my sorting had been the longest before, that certainly wasn’t the case anymore. It seemed that Percy was going to sit under the hat all night. McGonagall even was beginning to look nervous.

HUFFLEPUFF!! A collective sigh of relief was heard from the staff table. Apparently they’d all been worried. Percy was beaming at the cheering Hufflepuffs as he made his way to their table. But before he sat down he spared a wink in my direction. 

“Hazel Levesque,” Like Calypso, Hazel’s turn under the hat was fairly quick. It placed her in Hufflepuff with Percy.

“Piper McClean,” When, after a few tense moments where everyone had to be thinking that this could take as long as Percy’s turn, SLYTHERIN was what came from the hats mouth, I sat in shock for a moment. I had thought Piper would have been a Gryffindor. But then I thought about it for a few more moments and realized that she really was a Slytherin. Sure, she was as brave as the rest of us, but she was truly cunning and definitely very sneaky. She’d fit in great with the Slytherins. Well, that’s what I told Calypso at any rate.

“William Solace,” Surprising me, just a little, GRYFFINDOR was where the hat decided Will should go. 

“Leo Valdez,” Like Jason, as soon as the hat touched his head, Leo was placed in Ravenclaw. I assumed it had to do with who his father was. He took his seat next in-between us as McGonagall called for Frank.

GRYFFINDOR!! 

We’d all been sorted into Houses at Hogwarts. After a moment the doors to the Great Hall opened once again and the first year students trailed in after the woman we saw them with earlier. They headed to be sorted into their Houses, their families for the next seven years of their lives. I just hoped that the next three weren’t going to be as dangerous as us demigods believed they’d become. We were here to unite the school from within, and by the gods we were going to do just that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a recap of the sorting:
> 
> Gryffindor: Jason, Frank, Will  
> Ravenclaw:Leo, Calypso, Annabeth  
> Hufflepuff:Percy, Hazel  
> Slytherin: Piper, Nico
> 
> Thank you Kyirah for guessing where our heroes ended up being sorted. You definitely got a few of them correct!
> 
> If you're wondering why the only couple that ended up in the same house was Caleo, then I'm right there with you. Originally I wasn't going to bring Will or Calypso to Hogwarts with the rest of the gang. I was planning on bringing Thalia though. Somehow it just didn't work out. I mean, Thalia is the immortal leader of Artemis' Hunters. She's got a full time job running around the world fighting evil SOBs. True, Frank is Praetor in New Rome now but I knew he needed to go (if/when Sirius discovers Frank's powers they're going to have lots of fun.). But for more reasons I decided that I'd leave Tahlia with the Hunters and that is that.
> 
> As far as Will and Calypso being added to the number, well, I just felt really bad making them leave their significant others at home while everyone else got to bring theirs with them. It made me sad especially since I LOVE Solangelo to pieces and Caleo is just adorbs. :3
> 
> Now why Caleo gets to be in the same house? Well, they're both Ravenclaws. Leo is a certified mechanical genius and while he's definitely got the Slytherin in him sometimes, his brains for thinking and learning are just what stand out for him to me. Calypso has been on an island by herself alone for the last several centuries. At times she has companions, but they have all left her at one point due to having lost loves in the real world. She didn't let that stop her from creating fire retardant clothes, growing her own food, and having some major knowledge about how things work. She may not have a lot of common sense due to having been alone for so long, but she's got smarts, that's for sure. Caleo in Ravenclaw just worked out that way. 
> 
> But get excited about having Jasper and Solangelo in Gryffindor and Slytherin. The two largest rivals and the couples are in each. There will be Gryffindors at the Slytherin table for meals and Slytherins in the Gryffindor common room for study sessions. Its the beginning for inter-House Unity. XD 
> 
> And you know Piper was always going to be a Slytherin. No matter how badass she is, she has been manipulating people with her Charmspeak her whole life. She's definitely the only one of the ten who is going to be able to get through to the Slytherins who are so brainwashed that they'll follow daddy's orders at the drop of a hat (yes, I'm talking about you, Draco Malfoy. You will become a better person, you must!).
> 
> Anyway. Just wanted to make sure everyone understood why I placed them the way I did. (: Hope you enjoy!!


	11. The First Feast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Due to noticing that I didn't add in the mandatory (?) food sacrifices for the demigods I realized I needed to fix my chapter. Sorry! I'll get it put up ASAP. (:

PERCY

I knew I was being irrational when Annabeth gasped after putting on the hat. I knew that but my feet wanted to take me over to her anyway. If Jason hadn’t pulled me back I know I’d have made a fool of myself. But it was even worse to know that the Sorting Hat decided it would take its sweet time with me. 

Hmm. You’ll be a tricky one.   
After watching everyone else, I figured it’d be able to hear me if I just thought at it.

You’d be correct Mr. Jackson. Hmm. Now, where to put you. You possess the bravery and nobility of a Gryffindor, the Cunning and Intelligence of a Slytherin, the Loyalty and Conscience of a Hufflepuff and I could even put you in Ravenclaw. You’ve a brilliant mind for battle strategies.

“Thank you, Sorting Hat. Well, I don’t exactly have a preference on where to go, I wouldn’t say no to being in Ravenclaw with Annabeth, but I know she’d rather me pick Ravenclaw because of the House, not her. I’ve heard a lot about Slytherin what with Voldemort being in the House and most of the dark wizards from this time are from that House. But I do respect the original intentions of the House, the Cunning and Ambition that Slytherin used to pride itself on. And Gryffindor, well any of us, the ten of us, could have been in that House. Gryffindors are Noble, Courageous, and that would be a great House for me too. But the more I looked into Hufflepuff, the more I know that it is my House. Sure, over the years Hufflepuff has the reputation of being the softest House at Hogwarts but I also know that the quiet and unassuming people are sometimes the ones that are the most powerful or even the most intelligent. That Cedric Diggory kid was a Hufflepuff, right? Harry Potter and Remus Lupin speak very highly of him. Plus, one of the reasons I’m here is to help Hogwarts unite from the inside. I can do that in any of the Houses, sure, but I think I’ll be best in Hufflepuff.”

So, you’ve made your choice, Mr. Jackson?

“You tell me, Sorting Hat.”

Very well. If it's any consolation, I believe you would have been an excellent Slytherin. Enjoy your time in 

"HUFFLEPUFF!!"

As I made my way to join the Hufflepuff table I saw several people giving me weird looks. I must have been talking to the Sorting Hat a lot longer than I realized. I was just excited that it agreed with me. When I caught Annabeth’s eye at the Ravenclaw table I gave her a wink to let her know I was ok. She smiled back but she still seemed a bit worried. But soon enough our attention was drawn to the front again as we watched our other friends get sorted. Before I could really focus on the Hat sorting Hazel into Hufflepuff with me I was tapped on the shoulder. I turned to see someone who looked to be about fifteen (the age I’m supposed to be) smiling a proud but open and friendly sort of smile.

“Hi! I’m Ernie Macmillan! I’m the fifth year boy prefect,” he pointed across the table at a girl who looked the same age, “and that’s Hannah Abbott the girl fifth year prefect. If you need any help finding anything or just have a question about how Hogwarts works we’re the people you can come to. There are other prefects in the older years but they might not be able to help as much. OWL year, which is fifth year, is the hardest next to NEWT year, which is seventh year.” At this point Hazel had made her way to the table and took the seat next to me. She was full of questions and eventually I switched seats with her so that she could continue to ask about Hogwarts and Hufflepuff and other things. I distracted myself with starting at the Ravenclaw table and listening to where our other friends got sorted. Once the hat was finished with Frank (Gryffindor got Frank, Will and Jason; Ravenclaw got Annabeth, Calypso and Leo; Hufflepuff got me and Hazel; and Slytherin got Nico and Piper) McGonagall went to get the first years, supposedly. Upon her return with the youngest of all the Hogwarts students, and before McGonagall started to call out the first years’ names, the Hat spoke up again.

In times of old when I was new   
And Hogwarts barely started   
The founders of our noble school   
Thought never to be parted:   
United by a common goal,   
They had the selfsame yearning,   
To make the world’s best magic school   
And pass along their learning. 

“Together we will build and teach!”   
The four good friends decided   
And never did they dream that they   
Might someday be divided,   
For were there such friends anywhere   
As Slytherin and Gryffindor?   
Unless it was the second pair   
Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw?   
So how could it have gone so wrong?   
How could such friendships fail?   
Why, I was there and so can tell   
The whole sad, sorry tale. 

Said Slytherin, “We’ll teach just those   
Whose ancestry is purest.”   
Said Ravenclaw, “We’ll teach those whose   
Intelligence is surest.”   
Said Gryffindor, “We’ll teach all those   
With brave deeds to their name,”   
Said Hufflepuff, “I’ll teach the lot,   
And treat them just the same.”   
These differences caused little strife   
When first they came to light,   
For each of the four founders had   
A House in which they might   
Take only those they wanted, so,   
For instance, Slytherin   
Took only pure-blood wizards   
Of great cunning, just like him,   
And only those of sharpest mind   
Were taught by Ravenclaw   
While the bravest and the boldest   
Went to daring Gryffindor. 

Good Hufflepuff she took the rest,   
And taught them all she knew,   
Thus the Houses and their founders   
Retained friendships firm and true.   
So Hogwarts worked in harmony   
For several happy years,   
But then discord crept among us   
Feeding on our faults and fears.   
The Houses that, like pillars four,   
Had once held up our school,   
Now turned upon each other and,   
Divided, sought to rule.

And for a while it seemed the school   
Must meet an early end,   
What with dueling and with fighting   
And the clash of friend on friend   
And at last there came a morning   
When old Slytherin departed   
And though the fighting then died out   
He left us quite downhearted.   
And never since the founders four   
Were whittled down to three   
Have the Houses been united   
As they once were meant to be. 

And now the Sorting Hat is here   
And you all know the score:   
I sort you into Houses   
Because that is what I’m for,   
But this year I’ll go further,   
Listen closely to my song:   
Though condemned I am to split you   
Still I worry that it’s wrong,   
Though I must fulfill my duty   
And must quarter every year   
Still I wonder whether sorting   
May not bring the end I fear.   
Oh, know the perils, read the signs,   
The warning history shows,   
For our Hogwarts is in danger   
From external, deadly foes   
And we must unite inside her   
Or we’ll crumble from within.   
I have told you, I have warned you. . . .   
Let the Sorting now begin.

Whoa. Was the Sorting Hat really giving the whole school a warning? This is insane. An inanimate object was giving them warnings about external forces. Was it talking about Voldemort? I chanced a glance at Annabeth and she was looking worried and anxious. I tried for a reassuring smile but I wasn’t sure if it made it all the way to my eyes. She gave me the look that says we need to talk later. I nodded that I understood. I turned to Hazel to ask her if she’d been paying attention, but our attention was once again drawn to the front of the hall where McGonagall stood to call the names of the first years.

“Abercrombie, Euan,”

It’s a moment before I’m able to tap Hazel on the shoulder and tell her my plan. She nods her head and we settle in to watch the rest of the sorting.  
________________________

HERMIONE

As exciting as it was to see three of the exchange students join the ranks in Gryffindor, with a slight disappointment that none of the girls made it in, it was strange seeing some of them sorted into Slytherin. I knew that as a matter of principal many of the Gryffindors wouldn’t give Piper and Nico the time of day, but I held out hope for Harry and the Weasleys simply because we got to know them before they were sorted. But the thoughts I had for the exchanges slid to the back of my mind as the Sorting Hat began its yearly song.

I knew that the Sorting Hat wouldn’t have warned us if something big weren’t happening at Hogwarts, other than the exchange program of course. But it was always a joy to watch the first year students find their home away from home. Euan Abercrombie was sorted into Gryffindor and he looked as if he wanted to sink into the floor, poor lad. But soon enough I was hearing, “Zellar, Rose,” being sorted into Hufflepuff and watched as Professor Dumbledore made his way to the front of the dais and began his pre-supper welcome of the students.

“To our newcomers,” said Dumbledore in a ringing voice, his arms stretched wide and a beaming smile on his lips, “welcome! To our old hands, welcome back! There is a time for speech making, but this is not it. Tuck in!” 

At once, the shining gold plates filled as normal. The amount of food, as always, sent my thoughts towards the house elves and all the work they had to do to feed all of us. As usual, Ronald decided to be rude to Nearly-Headless Nick who was more than willing to give us information. But I was quickly overcoming my frustration at him when I noticed Jason and Will get up from our table. Knowing that they couldn’t have eaten so quickly I watched them as they made their way across the room. As I was facing the rest of the House tables, I was able to witness most of the other students, in all the Houses, turn to watch their progress as well. They stopped at Hufflepuff to say something to Percy, but then continued on towards Slytherin. 

All at once the Hall fell silent. No one in Gryffindor had ever sat at the Slytherin table in all the years I’d been at Hogwarts. And it seemed as though Draco and his cronies were about to make sure that it remained that way. But as he stood, presumably to make his opinion known, Piper said something to him that made him stand down. I felt my jaw drop and when I looked to see Harry’s reaction to this turn of events and he was as dumbstruck as the rest of the school. 

“What do those two think they’re doing?” I had to roll my eyes at Ronald for that.

“What do you think they’re doing, Ron? Jason and Piper are a couple as well as Nico and Will. The Gryffindors in the relationship decided to put that courage to good use and sit with their significant others.” A few heads turned in my direction and Lavender Brown made sure to ask her question loudly,

“How do you know which of the exchange students are with which? Its not as if they all came in holding hands.” Her eyes narrowed a little more as she finished her question. Thank, Merlin Frank had heard. Though I suppose I’d be a bit surprised if anyone hadn’t heard her question.

“Well, all of us exchange students are involved with another. So expect to see a lot of us running around to eat with people in a different House. Back in our school we didn’t have specific tables we had to sit at.” With that he too stood and made his way towards his girlfriend. Though Hazel and Percy had made their way over to the Ravenclaw table so he ended up there rather than at Hufflepuff. But my eyes were once again drawn to Slytherin because it seemed as though someone was going to make a stink about the Gryffindors being at their table. I wasn’t surprised that Draco and Pansy seemed to be directing the other fifth year Slytherins away from the four exchange students at their table. But then the strangest thing happened. Piper and Nico were obviously trying to convince the two Gryffindors that being shunned by their House wasn’t that big of a deal. But Jason seemed to think otherwise. Will seemed like he was torn between leaving and wanting to get involved. But instead of there being an altercation one of the fifth year girls, Daphne Greengrass, and one of the fifth year boys, Theo Nott, got up from where Draco had directed them all and moved to sit with Piper, Nico, Jason and Will once more. Theo shook hands with Jason and Will, who were closest to them, and nodded across the table to Piper and Nico. Daphne did the same but had to nod to Jason and Will.

If I had known that Inter House Unity would be displayed so soon, I might have suggested to Colin Creevey that he bring his camera to the Feast. I watched in stunned amazement as the rest of the exchange students made their way from the Ravenclaw table to sit with their friends at Slytherin. Once they’d all fixed a plate though, they huddled around Leo who pulled out some sort of bowl from his robes and sent some of their meal into a fire that he put there. No one at the staff table batted and eye, but if every eye in the Entrance Hall weren’t trained on the odd display, I’d eat my favorite book.

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own any of the characters or plot lines of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians, his Heroes of Olympus, or JK Rowling's Harry Potter. I do, however, own the random and twisted up timeline and semi-coherent story of this fan fiction.


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